#and this is mostly without batman and robin and nightwing and all the others in the family dont even get me started on them phew | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sanguineterrain · 9 months ago

Note

for the dc prompts you reblogged:

can i request jason todd x reader "someone likes being pinned down" + A flirting with B while sparring to throw them off their tracks

where reader is also a vigilante??

thank you so much 🩷

very sexy prompts thank u 😌

jason todd x gn!reader. r and robin!jay were friends, r doesn't know jason is alive/red hood but jason knows r is a vigilante. r's alias is 'nocturne' (if that's already in use oh well lmao). fighting/sparring, jason is mega in love with you as usual!!

all fics at @sanguinelibrary

****

"Still blindly following the Bat, huh?"

You land in a crouch on the rooftop, just like how Nightwing taught you. The Red Hood doesn't look at you, digging through two duffel bags. He doesn't even draw his gun, like you've seen him do with virtually every other vigilante in Gotham.

You wait, ready to spring into action. But Hood doesn't stop what he's doing. Slowly, you rise.

"What... do you mean?" you ask.

"I mean, why are you traipsing around Gotham as a bat-adjacent? Who are you s'posed to be anyway? Goth Bat? Alternative Scene Bat?"

"I'm Nocturne," you say, shoulders rising to your ears. Rude. You thought the chunky boots and star over your suit's eye mask were inspired.

Red Hood lifts a hand. "Don't get me wrong, I dig the threads. I'm just surprised B didn't have an aneurysm over the sequins. Then again, Discowing did do it first..."

Your first two meetings with the infamous Red Hood have been similar in that he's never very concerned about you stopping him (ouch), but he also isn't callous or cruel with you like he is with the other vigilantes.

Case in point: the last person who cornered Hood on a roof was Red Robin. Hood shot him in the shoulder before he could land.

In short, he's perplexing as hell.

Batman's forbidden the rest of the team to confront Hood without backup. And you're technically not supposed to be on patrol tonight. But if you can intercept Hood, that'll be a huge win.

Hood keeps on packing the duffels. You hesitate, then step forward.

"Get away from the bags," you say. "I won't ask twice."

Hood looks at you. "Nocturne's a pretty cool name, I'll admit. And I like the boots. But I still think you oughta call it quits."

He zips up the bags, stands, and kicks them to the corner of the roof.

"Because you're just that unstoppable?" you ask, hands curling into fists.

"Yeah. But mostly 'cause I know you're made for so much more than this, sweetheart."

And that is the third and perhaps most bewildering thing about your encounters with Red Hood: you've gotten the creeping feeling that he... likes you.

Which is ridiculous, and if you ever breathed a word of that to anybody, Batman would probably check you into Arkham.

You take another careful step forward. Hood leans against the railing and folds his arms.

"This the part where you apprehend and hogtie me for innocently packing a duffel bag?" he asks.

You glare. "Innocent? I know you're making a weapons delivery because I know you've been waiting for Batman to be off-planet to make it."

"Clever. Told ya you're too good for this," Hood says. "Should be in college with those smarts, not playing maid for Batman."

"Are you lecturing me?"

"I'm advising you as your friendly neighborhood drug lord. Lecturing makes me sound like a guy who's got too much money and too big of a savior complex to understand that the way he fights injustice is fundamentally flawed."

"Sounds personal."

Hood laughs. "Honey, you have no idea."

You strike.

Hood parries your first attack easily, which you expect. The truth is that whoever trained Hood cut no corners and you're still relatively new at vigilantism. It's only by the grace of God that Hood hasn't left you to bleed out on a roof.

You kick his shin, but Hood turns on the instep and blocks. You go for his shoulder, where his armor separates to give him more movement. But Hood's ready for that too, and he catches your arm.

"Gotta keep that right arm up," he says. "Surprised no one's trained that outta you yet."

You elbow Hood in the throat. He coughs and lets go.

"Like that?" you ask, muscles tense with adrenaline.

Hood makes a sound that might be a laugh, still choked from your hit. "Just like that, honeylove. Good job."

"I don't need feedback," you snap, immediately going back in for another hit.

"Sorry. I'll make this quick then. I do have a delivery."

On the next strike, you advance, using a technique Nightwing drilled into your head for bigger opponents. Hood goes down and you land atop him.

"Oh, that's a Nightwing takedown if I've ever seen one," Hood says beneath you.

You're close enough that you can hear his breathing through the decoder. Pride swells in you at taking him down. Not even Batman has managed such a thing.

Hood is warm and big. His shoulder span alone dwarfs you. When you'd seen him from afar, fighting Batman or Nightwing, you'd been terrified.

But now, perhaps stupidly, you feel comfortable. Annoyed, but safe. Something about him reminds you of home. Makes your stomach flip in a good way.

Which is terrifying.

"You're coming with me," you say, reaching for your cuffs.

"If only. Unfortunately, you've forgotten a teensy weensy detail, dearest."

Hood bucks you off, legs first. Your feet fly into the air, which allows him to flip your positions. You wince, preparing for a concussion upon impact as you go down. But Hood cushions your fall and neatly rolls you over. Your back is pressed into the concrete, hands locked over your head. Hood's weight holds down your hips and legs.

He looms over you, easily holding you down. Your face grows hot.

"How did—" You squirm in his grip. "I had you!"

"Weight distribution, sweets. Tell Al—one of the Bats to add weight to your boots. They keep you light on your feet, but you were depending on them too much to hold me down, and we ain't evenly matched there."

You thrash in his grip. "Hood, I swear to fucking—"

"Easy. Don't sweat it, sweetheart. You haven't been doing this for very long. That was a good takedown, regardless. I'm impressed."

"Screw you."

He hums. You can tell he's smiling under the helmet. "Sorry, I forgot. You don't like feedback."

Hood strokes the inside of your wrist. You aren't sure he's aware he's doing it. His grip is firm but light. He's not trying to hurt you. Your pulse is in your throat.

For a moment, you're both still. Hood seems caught in a trance, like even Superman couldn't tear him away from this moment. From you. And it's not that you're afraid, you're just... you're...

"How do you know so much about me?" you blurt, because it's puzzled the whole team. "You been spying on me?"

"'Course not. Unlike your boss, I respect privacy. No, I did research. I recognized you from when you'd hang around that second Robin. Shrimpy little guy. What'd ya even see in him?"

The grief overtakes you before you can control your mouth.

"You don't know anything about me or him," you spit. "Don't fucking talk about him. He had more skill and goodness in his pinkie than you'll have in a lifetime. And you could learn a thing from him about changing a city. He'd tell you that fear alone never works."

Hood is quiet for a long moment. Then he speaks.

"Where's your distress signal?"

"Why would I tell—"

Hood shifts over you, cutting off your reply. He pulls a ziptie around your wrists. They're not even a little tight. You could probably slip out of them if you had five minutes.

"I know you're not s'posed to be out tonight," he whispers in your ear. "'S not your patrol night. Good thing you're my favorite."

You nearly swallow your tongue. "How do you—I don't—"

"Uh-huh. So you be good from now on, yeah? Wouldn't wanna have to keep tying you up like this."

You lift your chin. "We'll switch positions soon enough."

Hood snorts. "Okay, I know you heard how that soun—"

"I heard it," you say grumpily. "Just get on with it. Jerk."

"As you wish. Distress signal?"

"Collar."

Hood presses the button under your collar. Your breath hitches as his gloved fingers graze your neck.

"Oh? Does somebody like getting pinned down?"

"In your dreams."

Hood laughs. He zipties your ankles last, then sits you upright against the railing.

"Not too tight, are they?" he asks. "I know you've got a circulation problem."

You squint. "You seem to know a lot about me. Not fair that I don't know much about you, Hood."

"'S just business, honeylove," he says, scooping up his duffel. "Now I don't wanna see you in a suit anymore, comprende?"

"Or you'll what? Shoot me?"

Hood pauses, eerily still. He turns those glowing white eyes upon you. Your heart picks up.

"No," he says, so serious it startles you. "But someone else might. And I don't want you to face the same fate as your good friend Robin."

He vaults over the railing before you can respond. Your head thunks lightly as you lean back and wonder if you're really just business to the Red Hood.

(pt 2)

#jason todd x reader #jason todd x you #jason todd fanfiction #red hood x you #red hood x reader #red hood fanfiction #jason todd imagine #dc fanfiction #batman fanfiction #jason todd #dc #inbox #blurb

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lysreadsbookssometimes · 5 months ago

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So I was thinking about the batmobile earlier and how they use it on patrol.

Wayne Manor and therefore the Batcave are pretty much on the edge of town and the bats use the batmobile/their other vehicles like bikes to get into the city.

Now when they are there, they move mostly by grapple or parcour. Which makes sense, you wouldn't really beat up a goon, get in the batmobile, drive three blocks and park it again. I assume they park it somewhere and then go on patrol.

A standard patrol is most likely circular, so they end up back at the batmobile. But what if they have to chase someone? Or something happens that draws them to the other side of the city? What if one of them gets injured and they need to be transported? The batmobile is parked somewhere, so what happens now?

I imagine the following possibilities:

1. The batmobile has self-driving capabilities. I can't really tell how good that would work in Gotham, and i don't know how that would work for the bikes.

2. There is a bat on batmobile-duty. They spend the patrol night chilling, watching tiktoks, reading a book etc. and just wait for a pickup.

3. There is a remote driving system, probably accessed by Oracle as well as the batcave. In the necessary moments Oracle grabs a controller and GTAs the Batmobile to the location.

4. There are Batmobiles hidden throughout Gotham and after such an incident happened, a few batkids need to go for a drive and pick up/drop off the various batmobiles at their spots.

I don't know which one is the most likely, and all of them have so much Batfam Chaos potential. Maybe all of them are true. Allow me to present some of these chaotic scenarios.

Red Robin, severly sleep deprived: *nearly hits a lamp post*

Batmobile: *avoids the post, speeds up* *steering wheel moves under his fingers*

RR: What?

Oracle, via comms: for the love of god just take a nap I'm taking you home

Nightwing, after a chase: great, now i need to walk like 5 kilometers to the car.

Red Hood: There is a batmobile in a garage like two streets down

NW: what?

RH: don't you have a map?

NW: a map of what?

RH: of the batmobiles

NW: what- no. No i do not. I will be having words with someone.

Batman, after patrol: There are still two bikes and a batmobile on the streets. Go pick them up.

Red Hood: alright, which one of you idiots is allowed to drive?

Nightwing: Damian put your hand down.

Gothamite: *crosses the street* *nearly gets run over by batmobile* *stares to see it driving off without a driver*

Phone: *beeps*

Text message: very sorry, still working on the self-driving. Have a coffee on me, heres a coupon code for batburger. -O

Red Hood: *peacefully reading a book, legs on the batmobile dashboard, a thermos of tea in the cupholder*

Oracle, via comms: Hood, Spoiler has been injured, i am sending you the adress for pickup.

Hood: How bad is it?

Oracle: Not life-threatening. She wanted to go on but Batman refused.

Hood: so she can wait a bit more.

Oracle: what?

Hood: They are about to have the big love confession and i am not waiting on that because B is overprotective.

Oracle: I just googled your book. Pick up Spoiler now or I will make you listen to Spoilers for the entire series.

Hood, starting the car: Jesus O no need for warcrimes

(I am fairly new in this fandom, if there is something in canon that i missed/got wrong please correct me)

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kaithonks · 2 months ago

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So I’ve had some Thoughts about From the DC Vault: Death in the Family: Robin Lives!

Warning: Spoilers

My mistake with From the DC Vault: Death in the Family: Robin Lives! was thinking that the story would actually be about Robin. That was on me. I should have known better, but I let my excitement of finally getting more Jason Todd, Robin content get away from me. I set up poor expectations, and it’s not the comic’s fault for not meeting those expectations.

Everything else is, though.

I know I’m biased, and I am probably writing this too soon after having finished Robin Lives to really give myself time to think critically about the story. But, I also feel rather offended by the end and feel the need to strike while the iron is hot. Recently, I talked about fans and writers needing to have respect for each other, as they can’t exist without each other. I also mentioned having a respect for the history of the comic. On that, I don’t get the feeling that J. M. DeMatteis has much respect for the history that was Jason’s Robin run. Granted, this isn’t mainline canon. It is more of a ‘What if?’ So DeMatteis wasn’t “entrusted” the same way but, there was still a line of basic respect that feels very lacking. Now, DeMatteis has been writing since the 80s and has written a lot for both DC and Marvel so he is a part of comic history, but this doesn’t really translate into respect for characters. Or for fans.

Both Jason and Dick’s character have a rough time in this 4 issue series. While the series called “Robin Lives” mostly focuses on Bruce and his regret, by doing that it makes Jason and Dick more like props for Bruce’s guilt than actually characters with their own agency. Bruce outright denies Dick’s choice in becoming a Robin and even later Nightwing. In this guilt, Bruce totally takes away the fact that even as a child, Dick did choose this, and he chose it again when he became Nightwing. So Bruce’s guilt serves no one here. And this problem gets worst with the Robin Lives ending. Dick becoming Batman, is an incredibly weak ending to start. Because most of Dick’s history is him growing out of Robin and then trying to break out of Bruce’s shadow. Yes, Battle for the Cowl happens, but it’s more complex than Dick just becoming Batman. And it’s easy to see how pointless all of Bruce’s guilt was when he decided to leave his role as Batman, only for Dick to take it up again. It really feels like Dick is only a prop for Bruce’s journey. Dick is here for Bruce to feel guilty about, but then to also relieve him of the duty that also makes him feel guilty.

And it is so much worse with Jason. This does sort of come back to me setting up poor expectations and the fact I thought this would be about Jason’s recover, but it was glossed over. We simply jump to Jason now being okay, which is a choice, if on the unbelievable side. What is worse, though, is how Bruce and the comic, makes Jason’s trauma about Bruce. Because yes, to an extent Bruce holds fault for the events leading up to Death in the Family. But he mainly holds fault in the form of negligence. He didn’t properly check out Sheila Haywood's background before for deciding she was a safe person to leave his son with. I am boiling down the issue of character interaction between Bruce and Jason (and outside influence that puts Jason’s last issues into context), but my point still stands that Bruce and Jason still made choices. For Jason’s part, he chose to trust Shelia to try, and save her. And in reality, Joker and Shelia hold the blame for Jason’s trauma. The fact Shelia was only briefly seen in a hallucination and “saving” Jason, again feels like DeMatteis has a lacking appreciation for the history of Jason’s Robin, and it’s context. Yes, Shelia saving Jason would be something Jason would want, but the event after this takes away everything that would make Jason still want Shelia’s affection in some way. With the ending and Jason becoming the Joker to Dick’s Batman, shows this. It ultimately feels like both Dick and Jason were used as stage props to re-establish some kind of status quo for a series that was only planned for only four issue. The run very well could have ended with the Joker’s death and everyone going to live happy lives but for some reason no.

Now, one could see that as DeMatteis having a respect for Batman’s history as a whole and a path for a continuation. I would argue, though, that it shouldn’t come at the cost of other character’s agency. The leap in Jason’s “madness” is awkward, and when I say leap I mean a massive leap. This goes back to my problem with the story not focusing on Jason. We spend so much time in Bruce’s grief that when it is about Jason, everything goes sideways and ends up with being a “What the hell did that happen?” Especially since in the context of the story, Jason should have gotten a lot more support from Bruce, now retired, from Dick, now living back in Gotham, and from Dr. Sarawarti Dev, a psychologist. Having Jason still become the Joker after all this, not only feels like all of those people continued to fail him (especially as Bruce and Dr. Sara get married, which was a strange addition), but that he never really had any choice. The story didn’t take the time to show us this, to show us how or where Jason became the Joker. He even denied becoming like the Joke in early issue 4. A point might be made that killing the Joker made Jason the new Joker, but a counterpoint Why? Jason already had the choice and decided? Why did he go back on that? Jason was Robin, Robin has the role of bringing hope, and being more compassionate, countering the fear Batman brings. We see Jason’s compassion before he died (or was injured in this case), when he still tried to save Shelia after she betrayed him. We see it in this comic with him still wanting her affection in his hallucination. So where did that compassion and care go?

The answer? It didn’t go anywhere. It was forgotten for the sake of a convoluted twist to make a reader gasp. Robin Lives spends its whole four issue run taking away the choice and agency of Robin. Robin does not live here. He becomes a puppet of the plot not to move outside of its designated story, he only can become Batman or the Joker. But never his own being. For anyone who’s ever enjoyed Robin, be it Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, Damian Wayne or any other Robin, past or future, Robin Lives is an insult.

#dc comics #From the DC Vault: Death in the Family: Robin Lives!#robin lives #J. M. DeMatteis #jason todd #Again is put through the wringer for other character's benefit #dick grayson #bruce wayne #I'm gonna go take a nap now man #Fun fact: I was pretty much done with something else but then this happened and i swaped gears

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sisaloofafump · 2 years ago

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I can’t get enough of your tiny batblobs with their funky little arms. Do they ever grow GIANT or do they remain itty bitty?

Other examples: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Details & math:

He is most corporeal at the edges and in thinner parts like the ears and fingers. The eyes don't ever disappear but they can dim significantly or glow brightly.

His voice is modulated and doesn't come from a designated source. It is pseudo-telepathic. He can do his "hn"s without that however.

The arms can be as long as he wants to a max of 10 meters (typically sticking to under 1 meter and up to 3 for dramatics). Using a grapple gun mimics the arms and can be visibly interchangeable, but it doesn't actually act as an arm or have dexterous use of fingers.

(don't verify my math I only play-tested 3 scenarios) It's not that he doesn't get any bigger or less stable, he just has to reserve that for life-or-death-of-the-universe situations.

He can take a bunch of different shapes and can stretch out like a ferret if need be. However, there are limits:

Super tall = max width:height ratio of 1:20 (ears included) Super wide = max width:height ratio of 1:5 (ears included)

--------------------------------------------------

The very important human aspect:

The change takes place when he puts the cowl on.

Originally, the cowl was part of his physical suit but after a few years of working as batman it became more metaphysical. Now he only needs to mime putting a cowl on and by the time it's over his eyes, he has already mostly transformed.

This makes emergency changing while in civilian clothes much easier, but doesn't provide the protection from harm or grapple abilities that it does when he's in his suit underneath.

It's the same process to remove it. To do so requires an innate understanding of The Bat being a mask that Bruce wears, rather than an inseparable part of his identity (note: although I do think that Batman is an integral part of Bruce, the sheer cryptid nature of the blob is partially a separate entity). Family and friends can sometimes take it off him as well, but it varies:

Diana: Can remove it easily and see through the mask due to her innate abilities with truth magic

Clark: was the first person to be able to remove it, back when it was still transitioning from a physical to metaphysical object.

Dick: Was the first batkid to be able to but only gained the ability once he was Nightwing and it's still a struggle. Despite that, he does it often when arguing with Bruce

Jason: No matter how much he wants, the more he tries, the more elusive the mask gets

Tim: Could do it all along and does it fairly regularly when needing to talk to Bruce face-to-face. It got harder as he got deeper into being Robin but has gotten easier again over time

Stephanie: Was the first person after Tim to be able to do it and she found out she could early into knowing Batman. It came off so easily but was she so panicked by that fact that she's never done it since

Cassandra: Does it easily but gravely and only reserves it for the most extreme situations

Barbara: Has been able to do it for years but it's hard and avoids any situation that would make her do it

Duke: Could do it the easiest and quickest of all, with no hesitations what so ever. As of yet, he hasn't had the chance

Damian: Has never been able to and resents that fact

(Kate only could in dire situations. Helena and Harper aren't aware that it's something anyone could do, however Helena could trigger it by accident)

That's all my immediate thoughts!

#damian is very concerned for batblob's vetrinary health #batblob #batman #lore #batblob lore #my art #bruce wayne #dc comics #okay i have to run to a haircut rn

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batfambrainrotbeloved · 12 days ago

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I ACCIDENTLY DELETED AN ASK IM SO SORRY-

But it was something like "Do you have OCs outside the cafe crew"?

And yes of course! I even have one that's Bat au (of course I've never posted about her because she's 100% self insert Y/N coded so purely for my cringe self indulgence)

Short background Summary-

Odette Wayne (Blood daughter, a few years older than Dick)

Bruce discovered she existed after publicly taking in Dick (her mom realized he might not be a complete playboy, and they split custody)

She finds out about Batman and Robin- demands to help, and becomes Sparrow

Without extreme conditioning/training- she focuses more on helping Victims/"aftercare" of an attack

Sparrow steps back after Odette graduates HS- goes to College, and later gets into Med school

When Dick gets fired and then becomes Nightwing- Odette becomes the in between (and Bruce whole place in the situation started a lil crack in their already somewhat strained relationship)

Odette had all but quit the mask, until Jason became Robin #2 (which- more issues w/ Bruce) And she was determined for the kid to not have BRUCE as the "responsible adult" in his life

Makes a promise to Jason involving "Blood of the coven is thicker than the water of the womb" that she would fight Bruce, if it meant protecting him

Odette gets in a big fight with Bruce- joins Dick to space mission to cool off

Ethiopia.

When Tim comes on scene, she's just as pissed as Dick- but has the same promise of not wanting the kid to deal with Bruce alone

(JJ happens at some point, idk when- but of course Joker returns)

At this point shes fully taken over Leslies clinic so the poor woman can retire- shes the first to hear whispers of a new face in the alley.

Red Hood leaves the clinic alone. But threatening Tim? Odette wont lose another Robin.

Shenanigans- and she discovers who he is?

Long story short- Odette becomes the one to finally "get rid" of the Joker- but unlike Jasons whole philosphy of kill to claim a role that would otherwise go to another?

She fully believes killing is wrong- but she ALSO believes that commiting the worst sin is worth it to keep her family safe. As a result leading a peak to Bruce and hers fucked relationsip.

Best part? As a doctor, and someone who "learned from the best" Bruce cant prove she did it.

He knows. She KNOWS he knows. But only Jason had it confirmed

(of course more lore w/ the other Batfam- and their relationshops- I just fixated on her for various scene scenerios- mostly involving Bruce getting told to stfu and Joker being discarded meat chunks in space )

#basically its narrative fuckery #and more moral #shit #also someone to just tell bruce #“It isnt about you”#which he NEEDS #sunny asks #sunny rambles #my oc #Odette Wayne #Sparrow dc #batfamily #batfam #batman oc #bruce wayne #ty for the ask!!#whoever you were *sob*

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phantom-0-writer · 9 months ago

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short 3: operation mousetrap

table of contents ao3

Nightwing’s eyes glazed over the case file he had already memorized as they made their way to the scene of their mission. Superboy fidgeted in the seat next to him, untempered. It had taken Nightwing and Robin (mostly Nightwing), and M’gaan almost the whole pre-mission briefing to convince Superboy to not just fly there, and actually take the bio-ship with them. He could empathize though. When Young Justice had first formed unofficially on their unsanctioned mission to CADMUS to, eventually, break Superboy out of his cloning pod the Justice League along with the bandit of misfits the Young Justice team was at the time had done everything they could and expended every resource to track and shut down anymore similar projects. Unfortunately and fortunately, Konner had been the only one to be stable enough to survive outside of the cloning pod, and since CADMUS had been permanently shut down there would be no more cloning projects (from them at least).

Or so they thought.

A mission that the Teen Titans were on almost a month ago had given them a tip off that there were still more CADMUS research operations happening. According to the files and research they had gathered, which, granted, wasn't as much as they would've liked, it seemed like there was something about this specific branch that had been different than the ones they had been tracking down after finding Konner. That had been the explanation to why they were only finding out about them now, years after they had thought they’d seen the last of them. Batman wasn't happy to be blindsided like that. And neither were they. Konner, naturally, had taken it the worst. Practically begged to be on the mission even though it’s not his usual modus operandi. Nightwing suspected that he felt some kind of responsibility to see it through, which as illogical as it may be, he understood where Konner was coming from.

So here they were, Nightwing (Since Batman couldn't oversee it himself), Superboy (As previously stated), Robin (Teen Titan representative of choice) and Miss Martian headed towards the new CADMUS location in an intense silence. The mission was sanctioned as a recon mission, the objective was to not to be seen so they could bug their systems and find out just how much of CADMUS they had overlooked. Hence the two bats and a martian that could go intangible. Cyborg was on standby at the Watchtower in case his expertise was required, Robin could put him through. CADMUS dabbled in a lot more than just clones, so the team was surely in for a surprise.

Nightwing was confident it was nothing they couldn’t handle.

They kept in the shadows, Miss Martian connecting them telepathically as they split up. She headed off with Robin to the main control room, Nightwing stuck with Superboy as they got eyes on whatever was afoot here. Superboy easily fell into Nightwing’s lead, leaving minimal traces of their presence.

‘We’re clear.’ Robin informed them that he and Miss Martian had successfully reached the control room, ‘I’m tapping into the mainframe; downloading and in process.’

‘Were you seen?’ Nightwing asked back, hotwiring the security panel for one of the doors marked Authorized Access Only (that translates to “you should probably check this out” in vigilante speak).

‘Negative.’ Miss Martian echoed back.

‘It tell you what we're up for?’ Superboy asked, as the door silently opened. Nightwing stopped him from entering so he could scan the area for laser, boobie (heh) traps and other such sensors. All clear.

‘Systems scanning. Will update. Over.’ Robin said curtly, likely busy getting past the security without ringing any alarms.

‘Heading into an access point. Still clear. Over.’ Nightwing reported, as their communication line went quiet but the light buzz the connection gave still echoed in his scalp.

The lack of guards was concerning to say the least. The building wasn’t abandoned, there were still people going about. But they had all been in lab coats doing things that people that wore lab coats in shady underground operations did, not security going around securing the place. Even the access point hadn’t had any sensors that hotwiring couldn’t dismantle. Nightwing knew enough about CADMAS operations to know that this wasn’t how CADMUS operated. Knowing better than to hope for the best he told Superboy to keep his guard up, trusting Robin to come to the same conclusion as him.

They surveyed the access point. They had managed to get pretty deep into the building so there was sure to be something juicy in here. Weapons of mass destruction, an unnamed virus that could kill on impact, neo-Armegedon. All in previous case files stored under CADMUS along with superhero cloning. Nightwing was relatively certain he wouldn’t be finding any more cloning attempts, which had been the core of what they had been searching for during the first CADMUS eradication operations. Looked into all the big pharmas connects and everything. Crazy how far a name like “Wayne” could take you.

So imagine Nightwing’s surprise when Superboy calls him over while he’s snooping through the on hand files in the large room to see what all the freaky green bio-substance in the rows and rows of mason jars were supposed to be for and he sees an all to familiar pod. A pod that might even be referred to as a cloning pod. There was a kid inside, male, estimated age 7-10. It was always hard to tell ages with clones. Skin tone was hard to tell in the green of the liquid he was basking in, but it looked tan - melatonin tan, kid probably never got a lick of Vitamin D in his life. His hair was white in some parts and black in others, kinda like a zebra. Or was dalmatian a better reference? His umbilical cord was still attached- or something that served as one, if he were to guess. Nightwing couldn’t see where it led to as it disappeared into the ceiling.

“We gotta get him out.” Superboy said through clenched teeth. Nightwing couldn’t imagine the memories going through his head. His hand went for the control panel before Nightwing stopped him.

Superboy looked like he wanted to put up a fight so Nightwing was quick to explain, “We don’t know if he’s stable enough to not be in there. If you open it, or wake him or whatever- you could kill him. You need to think about this objectively, Superboy.” The anger didn’t dissipate but Nightwing trusted the nod of understanding he received and released his arm. “Clones don’t usually have an umbilical cord.” Nightwing noted, “They must’ve tried a new recipe.” Tuning back into Miss Martian's mental link, ‘Rob. You find anything yet?’

‘The information’s coded, Cyborg and I are working on it. But all I’ve found so far is not looking good.’ There was a beat of silence, and Nightwing’s chest twisted in anticipation. ‘They have a project Grayson.’

‘What?’ Nightwing ‘Are you sure it’s not just a coincidence.’ Superboy’s eyes snapped to Nightwing who turned to look at the boy in the cloning tube and wondered if his eyes would be blue when (if) he opened them. The memory of his own parents telling him the trails of his birth flashed in his head. His mother couldn’t conceive, so they’d found a doctor to help. He’d been a test-tube baby. At Least until he was old enough to be in a womb. He knew how it worked. And he knew that both his parents had to get harvested for it. Considering who they were dealing with, it wasn’t impossible their samples weren’t stolen.

‘Codename: P40-N10; Attempt 16: Project Grayson.’ Robin recited ‘That’s all I got so far.’

‘Robin, we're getting company.’ Miss Martian's voice said, alarmed.

With a curse Robin ended the conversation. If they found Red Robin and Miss Martian then it wouldn’t be long until guards came by their alley either. Quickly Nightwing tapped the computer screen that most likely connected to the kid’s suspension chamber. Superboy made himself useful looking through the paper trail stored in the shelves, since he could read faster than the average human. Robin was right about the coded information, trying to bypass whatever software they were using a pinprick he hadn’t been expecting poked through Nightwing’s glove drawing only a drop of blood.

That can’t be good.

The computer screen shifted to the loading sign, force-freezing any other on going processing for whatever just popped up. Instinctively, Nightwing backed up from the screen, bracing for some kind of explosion or attack to come from somewhere. But the screen finished loading and a present icon popped up, deceptively colorful. Despite not touching the mouse, the cursor moved to the icon with an exaggerated click and the present opened with a light fanfare of digital confetti.

Operation MouseTrap: Activated.

Nightwing didn’t know what that meant, but it couldn’t be good. Before he could process what course of action he should take- optimally a self-extraction, they’d been sniffed- the glass dome encasing the kid retracts with a loud sound and the substance is drained only just fast enough to not spill over the glass.

They had been expecting them.

MouseTrap. They were mice.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

‘Rob, MM. We need to leave. Now.’ Nightwing ordered urgently. Superboy was on his feet, catching the kid from hitting the floor with a speed Nightwing couldn’t match.

“I got him. We need to cut the wire.” Superboy said, checking the boy for a pulse. Approaching them quickly, Nightwing sliced through the umbilical cord with a batarang.

‘What’s the situation?’ Robin asked,

‘We’ve got them handled on our end.’ Miss Martian reported.

‘We’ve been set-up. I’ll explain later. We need to go.’ Nightwing snapped, just as the overhead alarms started blaring. He should’ve seen this coming a mile away.

Superboy picked the boy up. “Pulse is there, but barley. He needs medical attention, fast.” He used his jacket to cover the boy, holding him to his chest as he made his way to the door they had come in from.

“It’s too risky to take him with us. They wanted us to find him, there had to have been a reason.” Nightwing stepped in his path, staying aware of potentially being approached from behind. The containers he had been looking into earlier were forgotten in their corner of the room.

“So what?” Superboy asked venomously, “We leave him here? ‘Cause he's dangerous?” A took a threatening step closer, “A threat?” Cloning projects were always a sensitive topic for all the Supers, Konner specifically. Reasons obvious.

Nightwing sighed, “No.” He looked at the child and he couldn’t help but notice the similarities. Both with himself(phenotypically) and with Konner(in every other way). “No, we can’t leave him here. But we can’t go into this headfirst.” There was a volley of footsteps approaching.

‘Nightwing. Superboy. ETA?’ Robin asked through the link.

“We could take him to Mt. Justice?” Superboy tried to offer. “Titan’s Tower?”

“Mt. Justice is a secure location, we shouldn’t risk them being able to track the kid. We’d be risking everyone that stays there.” Nightwing explained, he could hear footsteps approaching. There was a crowd of them. “And the tower wouldn’t have the proper equipment to monitor or take care of him, medically.” The option of the Bat Cave filtered through Nightwing's mind, but he didn’t offer.

‘Guys.’ Miss Martian, called. ‘Do you copy?’

“Watchtower’s the safest bet, then.” Superboy pressed, “It’s crawling with heroes. Batman will be there. And Superman. What’s the worst one kid can do?” A lot. But Konner wouldn’t take that answer. Nightwing caught the kid’s hand twitch from under Superboy’s leather jacket.

‘Nightwing. Superboy.’ Robin called again, urgency in his tone. ‘Do you copy?’

“Why can’t our recons never actually be recons?” Nightwing sighed dramatically reaching for his batons as the door opened to reveal a folly of security guards. If they were meant to get in and get the kid, then they would sure as hell leave with him. Batman’s lecture be damned.

‘A few friends dropped by. We’ll catch you in five.’ Nightwing finally responded, ‘Get the medkits ready, we have a stowaway.’

Superboy let out a breath and his shoulder’s visibly relaxed, as he pulled the kid closer in his arms. He looked tiny next to Superboy's wide shoulders. Even if he was 7 he was small for it. Nightwing didn’t have much time to take in the kid, locked into a fight he could’ve taken in his formative Robin days, with a Super as back up. The two hurried down the corridor they had entered from, not bothering to take to the shadows when the loud red buzzer and alarms had exposed them. With Superboy’s enhanced strength the boy in his hands barely caused a dent in their escape plans. Though he was so small and skinny, Nightwing was confident their roles could’ve been reversed with minimal disadvantage.

The bioship took off the second the two landed both feet on board. Robin took one look at the heap of a child in Superboy’s arms and domino shifted in what Nightwing knew to be a questioning eyebrow.

“Heading back to Mt. Justice.” M'gann said as they steadied in the sky.

“Drop us off at the Watchtower on your way.” Dick called, following behind Konner to where Tim had set up their makeshift Medbay.

“B’s gonna flip.” Tim said approaching the stretcher the ship formed for them, as Konner laid the kid down gingerly. Dick shrugged, watching the monitors Tim hooked the kid up to. They were low, but they were steady. “He looks like you.” Tim commented again, stepping back to examine his work.

His hair had strips of white in that Dick never had the displeasure of dealing with, but Dick had never been in a cloning pod and he couldn’t be sure if the white hair was a genetic thing or a side effect of whatever the green stuff was. He should’ve gotten a sample of the vials when he had a chance. Have something to show for himself at the lecture he was no doubtably going to have to sit through with B. His skin wasn’t as tan as Dick’s but Dick spent excess hours in the sun and the kid got his umbilical cord cut only minutes ago. He had a dust of freckles, like Dick did. His nose bridge had a crick in it like Dick’s mom’s in the pictures, but Dick’s nose didn’t have one. His jaw was slim and angled like Dick’s had been before he hit puberty, and his skin was clear of any of the acne Dick had fought hard and long in his middle-teens. His shoulder’s didn’t have the muscles Dick had been trained into since before he could remember, making his entire body slimmer and smaller than Dick’s had been at that age.

It was like looking into a funhouse mirror of himself.

---

“Nightwing.” Batman called in a tone that Dick had become, unfortunately, very used to over the years. “Explain.”

“We were reconn-ing, like planned. Found the kid, alarms went off. It was no longer a recon.” He slumped into the empty chair with the Big Blue’s emblem etched into the leather of it. A bored look on his face to hopefully deter the length of the incoming lecture.

“You were team leader and as team leader you should know better than to not notice things. Clues that aren’t there are tells as much as clues that are there, and you led your team-” The lecture was cut off by a color-clad man Nightwing hadn’t had the pleasure of knowing the name of, his hurried eyes filtering between the duo and landing pointedly on Nightwing, hesitant to say anything in the presence of The Almighty Batman. But Nightwing knew. There was only one reason anyone would be looking for him right now.

“The kid’s-”

“Awake. Yeah, I got it.” Nightwing said pushing past him and hurrying in the direction of the Medbay Konner had refused to leave. Batman was on his tail, never one to leave a child vulnerable or unattended, regardless of the potential threat levels. Or maybe it was because he was a threat.

Nightwing entered before Batman, but he could feel him falter at the sight of the kid that sat in the bed with a posture Alfred had taken years to instill in Dick. His hair was still a patchwork of black and white, Dick wondered if he was wrong to think there was more white than there had been before. But as he stepped through the door, large blue eyes locked with Dick’s own. His Father had blue eyes. And his mother had a hooked nose. He’d seen the pictures. He’s memorized them. The slim jaw, the large eyes, and the lush lips. He looked like Dick, but not identical.

“He just woke up.” Konner told Dick quietly, but still loud enough for the kid to hear. Dick took off his domino, Batman left his on. The only people in the room were the three of them, the kid, and the doctor who was looking after him. The kid eyed them all wearily nonetheless.

“Hi,” Dick started with a smile, making sure to keep his hands in view and move them slowly, “I’m Richard Grayson, most people call me Dick.” He wondered if the joke would make him laugh or cringe. The kid just watched him and gave no reaction. Dick cleared his throat and continued, “I was one of the people that helped you get out of your pod.” he informed him. Still no reaction, but he could tell the kid was listening.

Batman stepped to speak, “Do you know who you are?” A clear question, classic Bat.

“P-four-zero-dash-N-ten.” He recited in almost a robotic way. When Konner had been broken out of his pod, he had memories, an objective.

“What he means is do you have a name?” Dick said even though he knew that’s not what Batman had meant.

“Project Grayson. Attempt 16, variation B-7.” He said in the same tone. His eyes moved fast and widely and he took in Dick and Batman’s reactions. Without prompt he continued, “Subject A-1 of operation MouseTrap. To be released from confinement under circumstances of acceptance of preliminary requirements.”

There was a beat of silence, “What are the preliminary requirements?” Batman asked his voice hesitant in the way that Batman never hesitated.

“Requirement 1: Suitable requirements of sustainability. Requirement 2: Overridden entry granted,” When Nightwing hotwired the security to get in, “Requirement 3: DNA match Richard Grayson.”

“What do you know about Richard Grayson?” Batman questioned again. The doctor stepped closer to the kid, but waited for Batman’s question to be answered.

“Richard Grayson, son of Mary Grayson and John Grayson. Recognized as the Flying Graysons, a well known international circus act. Orphaned at age 8, adopted by Bruce Wayne at age 8. First notable appearance as Robin estimated age 9. First notable Nightwing appearance estimated age 19 to 20. Noted weapon of choice: dual escrima sticks. Proficient in martial arts, with emphasis in aerial maneuvers. Threat level: 9.” He paused again, eyes not leaving the whites of Batman’s cowl. “Do you require more details?”

“No.” He said quietly. He took a small step back as silent permission for the doctor to go ahead.

The kid’s eyes went to the doctor, taking in the lab coat before the doctor herself. “I’m going to draw some blood for testing. Is that okay?” The doctor displayed the empty syringe in her hands, not bringing the potential threat closer. The kid eyed the medical device.

“Understood.” He offered up his still bare forearm. The doctor seemed hesitant at that, but proceeded regardless. The boy’s features that had stayed a daring still during the entire not-really-a-conversation-probably-more-of-an-interrogation, made the light twitch of his left eye as the syringe penetrated his skin only more apparent.

Dick considered the interaction they had so far. The kid was definitely a kid. Presumably human considered the resemblance they seemed to share, but you could never be too sure with CADMUS. The tests would prove that once the results were back. But he seemed sentient, picking up on (the lack of) social cues and trying to correct (in his perspective) the mistakes he had made. He reacted to pain, maybe not in the way most kids would, but he wasn’t most kids. He had blood, so he wasn’t a cyborg. There was probably some brainwashing they needed to tap into, but nothing the League hadn’t dealt with before.

The doctor asked him whether he preferred a Superman bandaid or Wonder Woman. His head tilted to the side just a bit, as he examined both bandaids. Then stared at the doctor in silence. The doctor retreated to grab one of the boring brown ones they gave you when you weren’t allowed to have choices anymore. Konner watched the whole interaction from the corner of the room.

When Dick moved in wide steps, the kid watched him carefully with more curiosity than fight. He brought Konner close, but not so much that they were crowding the boy. They still didn’t know what he was capable of, and this would be the worst way to find out. “This is Konner.” Dick gave his shoulder a dramatic clap that he knew wouldn’t hurt the man, “He’s from CADMUS too, long story.” Curiosity took the better of him, “Do you know about project KR?” The kid tilted his head the way he had done with the doctor, which Dick took to mean he was confused and decided not to press the topic, “Well, anyway. Konner here can help you out with anything we can’t. Isn’t that right, Kon?” Dick spoke animatedly, pointedly being overly friendly in his demure with Konner.

Konner gave a nervous nod. Given the fight he’d put up to make sure they brought the kid with them, he was being awfully shy.

The kid looked between them, expression calculating. “Konner.” He echoed Dick’s cadence at the name, but it sounded strange in the monotone. Then he seemed to take a moment to process the name, eyebrows bunching up. He turned to Dick head tilted again. Dick was starting to find it quite endearing. “Konner here.” He echoed Dick’s voice again, but Dick gave him the space to try to find his next words that were brewing on his face, “Kon?” It had the slightest tilt of a question.

“Kon is a nickname.” Konner was quick to explain, his voice was gentle and placating in the way Superman’s often was. “My real name is Kon-el, but most people call me Konner, and my friends call me Kon.”

“Kon is a nickname.” The kid repeated, looking point blank into Konner’s eyes. Then he turned to Dick, “Most people call me Dick.” He repeated Dick’s introduction from before.

Dick gave him a large grin, “Yeah, Dick is a nickname, too. People only call me Richard if they’re mad at me. You picked that up pretty quick kid. You’re a smart one aren’t ‘cha.”

“Pretty quick.” He echoed.

“Do you want to pick out some clothes?” Konner asked. They kept a reserve of all sizes in the room across from the MedBay, they came in handy and also reminded people that Batman designed this place because who else would think to have a gift-shop themed store in the middle of space.

“Pick out? Some clothes.”

“Oh yeah, we got a bunch.” Dick nods.

Surprisingly it was Batman that spoke up next, “Would you like to go see?”

“You’re a smart one aren’t ‘cha.” He says in the same praising manner Dick had, the musculature of his face still steady. Konner hid his laughter much better than Dick, who doubled over in hysterics. Batman didn’t laugh, he never did, but there was a wisp of a smile on his face and that was as close to a cackle you could get out of the cowl.

Dick decided to save the Nightwing merchandise indoctrination for when the kid knew how to say no and mean it. They’d gone through and shown him a handful of options that were his size, because there were a lot of options. In the end he’d picked a hoodie with patchwork of Wonder Woman’s logo on it, that he wore over an equally vibrant Green Lantern t-shirt, and bright red Flash pajama pants. A lot of color, not that Dick’s original Robin costume had been much better in that aspect. The kid could use a bit of color in his life after whatever insanity he’d been put through.

Dick saw the way Batman’s eyes trailed after the kid’s every movement, and hands ready to pick out wherever his eyes landed on. He’d definitely be seeing more of the kid. Pulling the clothes on to replace the hospital gown, the kid looked at himself in the mirror, pulling at the clothes that were still a little big on him and examining them under the gaze of the mirror. When he was satisfied with the ensemble, he turned back to them.

Dick’s phone buzzed with a text.

Timbers: Updates?

It’d probably be best if Dick called him to explain. Which he’d have to do later. “Are you hungry, buddy?”

The kid looked at him curiously, head dipping to the side. The oversized hoodie only added to the look. “I like mac’n’cheese. Do you want to try that?”

“Pretty quick.” He said, in what Dick would deduce to be a yes.

“There’s going to be a lot of people there.” Batman explained, voice slow and enunciated, “We can bring you the mac’n’cheese or you can come with us to get it.”

The Watchtower wasn’t too crowded today, most of the heroes with other bases were there, but even today’s small number might be overwhelming for the kid. “Lot of people there.” he echoed, wide eyes looking up to meet the Caped Crusader’s.

“They’re other heroes. Like Wonder Woman,” Konner pointed to his hoodie, “Green Lantern,” the shirt peeked out from under the hoodie, “and Flash.”

“Superman. Aquman. And this is the Martian Manhunter.” The kid quoted from their quick explanation earlier.

Dick nodded, “Yeah like them, and they’re our friends so they’re not going to hurt you. But they might not be there because uh-” Dick hesitated about what he should say, “they’re at work.” he settled.

After a lot of consideration the kid seemed willing to head to the cafeteria, and they picked a seat in the corner where they could see the whole room but be out of the way enough so the kid didn’t get spooked. Batman and Konner took the kid to pick out which of the meals he thought looked most appetizing while Dick called Tim.

The phone rang a few times, “How screwed are you?” Tim said in lue of a greeting.

Dick laughed, “You should come by and meet your new brother.”

“What! It’s been like four hours?”

“He’s known him for like thirty minutes.” Dick watched as Batman and Konner did their best at explaining what each of the foods were.

“Seriously?” Tim exclaimed before sighing, “Kid got a name?”

“We’re working on it.”

“Is he gonna stay at the Manor?”

“Probably not for a while. What did you find on him?”

Another sigh, more frustrated. “It’s taking a while. But I should have it done in an hour.”

“Personal delivery?”

“I’ll see what I can do.” A pause, some of the other hero’s gave the kid curious looks. But fortunately no one approached since Batman was his shadow. “You know who he is, yet?” Tim meant in relation to Dick. Because there was some relation, people don’t just look alike. Not the way they did.

Brother. Son. Duplicate. Dick hadn’t really given himself the chance to think about it. Like really think about it. He has a family, sure, Bruce, Alfred, Barbra, Jason and Tim. But he had a family. The ones who told him Romani folktales and helped him feed the circus animals even though they weren’t allowed. He was the last of the Graysons, but that could only happen if there had been Graysons before. And there had been. Until they had fallen from grace, and the show light stopped shining upon them. But there was another Grayson now, in whatever way he had been made, and whoever he was supposed to be. Dick wasn’t the last Grayson anymore, and he hoped he would never have to be again. “We did some tests. They haven’t come back yet.”

“Hm. I’ll stop by when I can.”

“‘Kay. Toodles.” Dick could hear him snort at that before the line disconnected.

When Dick finally made it to the table, the kid looked up at him. He put a singular cheesy gnocchi in his mouth that took him a few tries to get on the end of his fork. The kid tried for another bite, hair flopping around as he tried to work the fork. Batman watched him as he managed to fill his fork with more than he would be able to fit in his mouth, then toppled and fell into the bowl. Confused, he tried again. This time Batman took the fork from him demonstrating how to use the utensil with a silent patience, and handed it back to the boy loaded with a bite.

Flash, ever the conversationalist, caught sight of them and made his way to the table. “Cool pants, kid.” he commented jovially sitting in the empty space next to Konner.

The kid looked down at his pants, cheese smeared around his mouth that Dick could tell Batman was seriously contemplating whipping. But neither of them were ready to push the kid’s boundaries yet, if he even had any. The kid examined the Flash emblem that patterned his pants, then up at the matching and much more meticulously designed on the speedster’s chest. His eyes went wide with recognition, but his face didn’t move to smile. The kid pointed to Flash’s chest, “Cool pants, kid!” He exclaimed excitement was easily laced into the Flash’s cadence of speech.

“Hey! That’s what I said!” Flash was easy to laugh, despite the whisper of confusion in his eyes.

The cheer Flash displayed was matched easily, “Hey! That’s what I said!” There was a laugh in his voice like he was trying to say a joke that reached his eyes but not his cheeks. “And Flash!” he exclaimed.

“That's right, I’m the Flash.” He gave a quick lap around the table to show off his speed, both the kid’s and Dick’s hair tousled in the show.

“Pretty quick.” Danny cheered.

“I’d like to think so.” Flash puffed his chest out, a prideful smile on his face. Dick rolled his eyes. Speedsters.

“You should eat your food before it gets cold.” Konner nudged the kid gently. Reminded of the earlier mystery of the fork and mac'n'cheese, his attention was quickly diverted.

“Kinda young for the family business, don’t you think, Batsy?” Flash questioned, “He didn’t even earn his colors yet.” Flash alluded to the Robin suit.

“He’ll be staying at the Watchtower for a period.” Batman said, and whatever other additional explanation he was about to give was forgotten when the kid placed his forkless hand on the table to aim at the pasta from overhead, like he’d been doing earlier. Except unlike all the other times, his hand went straight through the hard material of the table, causing him to topple over. A surprised gasp escaped him.

Flash caught his head before it hit anything, the other’s on their feet. “Oh, dear.” Flash commented lightly, trying to disperse any tension the kid may have had. Like all the other times, he didn’t cry or seem alarmed in any way. He tried to pull his hand out but it seemed stuck, and he turned to Dick for an explanation. Not that Dick had one to give. He wasn’t a meta, untapped or otherwise. His parent’s weren't either. And even if the tests hadn’t come back Dick had had his suspicions of who the kid was supposed to be to him. And meta didn’t fit anywhere into the bill.

“Can you get him out?” Batman asked Flash, when it was clear the kid didn’t know how to. It took him a while to phase his hand out, and it was obvious he didn’t like the idea of using the speed force on the kid, but they didn’t have that many options. The kid, to his credit, seemed only mildly put off by the experience and went back to his goal of finishing his mac’n’cheese. The same couldn’t be said for the rest of them.

Batman gave Dick a look. “Tim says he should be done in an hour. Stop by if he can.” Batman didn’t look pleased, but there wasn’t much else for him to do.

“Are you ok?” Konner asked, trying for a gentle hand on his shoulder. The kid didn’t protest.

“Pretty quick.” He said pointing his fork to Flash, as a final comment.

me: has a prompt idea me: i can write a short little exerpt abt this lol. it' be fun. maybe like 2k?? me four days later pulls put this monstrosity:

for your convince I only have the "original amount" i was planning. the rest will be on ao3

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farshootergotme · 3 months ago

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I’m going to blunt and say I’m not excited for the Dick Grayson and Jason Todd movie.

Why because how James Gunn is handling it but honestly it is more to do with DC pushing Damian way too much in terms of films. Like does no one exactly want to talk about how awful it is that Damian is being push as the ‘true son’ Like hello what are Dick, Jason and Tim then especially Dick are telling me they’re not his kids because they’re not blood related.

God, this type of thinking sends shivers down my spine it’s like how the fandom goes they’re not blood related so it’s fine to ship these characters who literally have familial bond and view each other as siblings and in Bruce case a surrogate father and a guardian. Look I get it is just fiction and all that jazz but maybe reflect to yourself on why you think that it is not to demonising you for your likes in taboo ships but to consider why people get uncomfortable with that mentality. I’m honestly just so sick of this small silly trend going on with DC non-bio children are less valuable then bio children and no amount of hate towards Bruce as a character will change the fact that this is not okay.

Look I get people do not like Bruce but at the end of the day taking Batman out of the picture completely changes Dick and Jason lives wether you like it or not Bruce as a character has a heavy impact on them.

While I have my gripes with how some Nightwing and mainly Redhood comic writers tend to villainise Bruce way too much and even flat out make him go against his character and morals. I’m looking at you Dixon Nightwing year one and probably Robin year one by him as well, sorry forever basis to Dark victory which is my preferred Batman and Robin origin story. (Maybe that will change with the new Batman and Robin year one this year, I’m so excited for that I hope it’s good.)

Like seriously writers I’m sick of this stop having Bruce be the main conflict of the story let Dick and Jason have their own agency as characters. Making it revolve around Bruce makes seem like you have no faith in them as characters to hold their own without anything tied to Batman. Comic book writers I challenge you to make story with Bruce and his children without being him being the main conflict like you can have family conflict without being written in a flat out abusive way and making Bruce even bend out of character for drama and being overly dark and edgey.

Like Jason can be such a fascinating character but you have to be willing to accept he is a morally grey character and while yes he can conflict with Batman it is more about their beliefs on what is justice and how they approach that said justice and how it should be served.

Batman is not a bad father for not wanting to go against his beliefs what Jason is asking from Bruce is honestly selfish ask, just so he prove that he loved his son even though Bruce does care about his son to point it destroyed him mentally that he died. Look I get he is hurting it’s understandable but honestly redhood writers need to accept that he does things that need to face consequences for his actions taking a life even if a criminal has consequences to think about and how it can affect one psyche then you need to think about a even though a criminal death effects people close to them. Aka stop blaming Bruce for every choice and action Jason makes it takes away his agency as character in general writers.

But challenge for Bruce writers mostly male writers stop making him hit his kids for the sake of drama and violence or just being ‘dark’ or for no reason at all. While I don’t mind conflict and Bruce having a rare scuffle with his children, I’m honestly just tired of it which is why world finest is so healing for me as both a Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne fan.

Opps, I got a bit off topic there. But my point being, I feel trying separating the Robins from Batman is just unfortunate especially given I like the connection between Dick and Bruce and they both learn to become both partners in arms but also a family.

I don’t know maybe I am just upset that I’m denied my original dynamic duo again in a film. Especially I feel sometimes writer are ashamed of Dick origins as Robin which is just disappointing but also forcing Dick and Jason to have a relationship they didn’t have in the film just feels so wrong to me. Like yes they’re brothers but you’re sacrificing apart of Dick character and who he is just so you tell a story about them being in the streets together. Maybe it can work but who knows but I just feel it wasn’t done with the best of intentions behind it, especially given how DC is currently pushing Damian as batman only son in the film media at least.

But those are just my thoughts and I’m happy for those that are excited about the film but from what I heard about it so far it’s just not the Robin film for me.

I see your points.

I personally don't have many expectations for the movie? I mean, I'll probably watch it when it releases, but I'm not particularly excited about it since I'm not really a fan of character's origins being changed. Like, I get it'd be difficult to have two Robins in the same movie and show both their origins separately, but I guess when I heard about it I just thought how amazing it'd be to finally get a good Robin movie that followed the comics only to find out it was more of an alternative universe that might change people's perceptions of the characters for those who don't know anything about the comics.

I'm mostly worried there'll be people now thinking this is the true origin of Dick and Jason—but specially Dick, since Jason gets something more similar to his origin story.

However, perhaps it's possible Dick did have his Circus origin, but instead of ending up with Bruce, he escapes and ends up finding Jason. And I think it's possible Dick will find Batman later and that's how he becomes Nightwing, but that's just me guessing.

All in all, I don't disagree with people who are excited for this film, but I don't necessarily agree either. I suppose I'll just wait and see how it goes without getting my expectations too high or too low. Who knows? Maybe it ends up being better than what I imagine.

#dick grayson #nightwing #jason todd #red hood #batman #robin #dc movies #dc #dc comics

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kbkirtley · 1 year ago

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Nightwing has always been a favorite character of mine, but I mainly steered away from the Batfamily generally because Batman/Bruce isn’t a character I gravitate towards. Over the last year, though, I’ve watched/read a lot of the rest of the fam through different shows, Nightwing comics, Batgirls comics, and Wayne Family Adventures. Here is my definitive ranking of the Batfamily*:

Tier Seven: A Literal Murderer

10. Red Hood - Jason Todd

Y’all know he kills people right? Every other post I see about him on here is talking about him being a cinnamon roll or a perfect gentleman and it seems to get lost that he walks around shooting people with regularity. Doesn’t even seem particularly remorseful about it. I get that you died, man, but like half the heroes in DC have died at some point and they’re not filling people with lead. You’d think with all his money, Bruce could send his kids to see a therapist but I guess that’s a lot to ask of a man who processed his own grief and trauma by dressing up like a bat to fight thieves and muggers.

Tier Six: You Couldn’t Pay Me All of Bruce Wayne’s Money to Stay in a Room with Them for Five Minutes

9. Batman - Bruce Wayne

8. Red Robin - Tim Drake

I find both Bruce and Tim to be pretty insufferable. They’re smart but not smart enough to realize how to be smart without being a dick about it. Too clever for their own good and while they’re ranked higher here than Jason, I’d still much rather be in a room with Jason than either of them. Death would be welcomed if my alternative was having to listen to Bruce or Tim talk for more than fifteen seconds.

Tier Five: Need More Data Points

7. Signal - Duke Thomas

I basically only know Duke from WFA which is a fun series but doesn’t give me a ton to go off of big picture. Jury’s still out but I like his odds of not slipping.

Tier Four: Children Get Benefit of Doubt

6. Robin - Damian Wayne

Damian annoys me but in his defense, he is a literal child that was raised by assassins. He gets this spot because of extenuating circumstances and his relationships with Dick and Jon Kent.

Tier Three: The Batgirls

5. Spoiler - Steph Brown

4. Orphan - Cass Caín

3. Oracle - Barbara Gordon

I would be willing to die for any of these characters but they would never let that happen. Probably the most fluid tier. Have more connection to Babs because of my intro to the Batfamily primarily coming from Dick. Cass is second here largely because of her and Dick being perfect together in WFA. Steph lost the straw poll but could easily be third the next time I do this with little effort.

Tier Two: The Billionaire Butler

2. Alfred Pennyworth

The actual father figure of the Batfamily. Every ounce of every one of the Batfamily members success as actual humans is because of Alfred. Batman may have made them all good crime fighters, but Alfred made them good people. Alfred made them heroes.

Tier One: Boy Wonder

1. Nightwing - Dick Grayson

This was always going to be number one. It was never a question. Dick is my favorite superhero and quite possibly my favorite fictional character in general. He was never not winning this ranking.

*Only doing characters I’m mostly familiar with so if someone is missing I just don’t have enough connection to them yet - feel free to send recs to know them better!

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help-itrappedmyself · 10 months ago

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Sacred Moments (Batman AU) Part 4

Apparently, I just needed to get this out of my system so I could work on my other WIPs. So here is the final part, and I should be back to working on my other works tomorrow. (Can you guys tell my days off yet?)

Masterpost

Robin and Nightwing take Hood and the girl back with them in the batmobile. They go to a safehouse in the nicer part of town. Robin leaves to finish patrol with Batman. Hood knows they’re both going to listening in through Nightwing’s comm. He ignores the chafe the lack of boundaries brings up, but reminds himself they’re his family and he would probably end up having to tell them anyway. Better to let them hear it than to have to actually talk about it later.

They give the girl some clothes to change into and let her take a shower before she comes back out. Nightwing sits at the table to wait as Hood starts for the kitchen, intent on making everyone some dinner. They don’t talk while they wait for her.

She looks better when she comes back out. Still tired, now wearing too-big clothes that hang off a frame desperately in need of food. But her hair is now a lovely chestnut brown, fluffing as she tries to towel dry it. Her eyes are cyan blue, noticeable now in the lighting of the apartment.

She comes over and sits next to Nightwing at the table, bearing the closeness so that she isn’t putting Hood behind her. He follows her to the table, bringing over sandwiches and water. Nightwing digs in quickly.

She ignores the food for the moment. “Is he alive?”

Hood sits across from her, knowing that this conversation is between them for now. Nightwing is mostly only there to report to the rest of them.

“Will you let me see your mark?” Hood asks gently. Marks are personal, usually only shared with family and those you hope can match them. He would understand her saying no, but hopes he can confirm before revealing any identities. The world still thinks Jason Todd is dead after all.

But she is clearly hesitant to let a stranger see something so personal. “Do you know him? Did you know him? Can you tell me anything?” There’s a desperation in her voice. She clearly thought he was dead before, which makes sense because her mark would have darkened. Jason wonders if that changed when he came back to life.

“Black Mask thought that it was the boy Wayne adopted. The second one.” Hood started, trying to think of a way they could say they knew him without linking the Waynes to the Bats.

“All the bats know the Waynes. We rescue them often enough.” Nightwing cuts in. “I met him after he was adopted. But we all know him.”

She nods. “You would recognize the mark if I showed it to you.” Her eyes turn piercing, looking between Hood and Nightwing.

Nightwing shakes his head, glancing towards Hood. “I would recognize it anywhere.” Hood states firmly.

She nods. “Then you can see. Nightwing…”

He lifts his hands and turns back to the food. “I don’t need to see it and you don’t need to show everyone. Hood will tell us if it’s true or not.”

Maeve stands from her chair and Hood follows her back into the bedroom.

“It’s on my left hip.” She tells him, gathering the baggy shirt, lifting it into a crop top and tying the extra fabric in a knot to keep it out of the way. Hood stays a respectful distance from her as she lowers the hem of the shorts she was given until her mark was visible.

Hood sucks in a breath as he sees it, reaching out to touch it, prove to himself that this is real. That this is happening. She leans away from him, covering it back up and the sight of it disappearing without him being able to touch, to color it, to bring it to life is almost enough to bring tears to his eyes. He wants to snap, to grab, a wave of possessiveness coming over him only exacerbated by the lingering Lazarus Water in his system.

He takes a breath and breathes. She doesn’t know that it’s him. That the mark is his. Hood straightens back up, shucking off his jacket and dropping it to the floor. She looks shocked for a moment before he starts reaching for his own left hip, pulling his shirt up and lowering his waistband. His belt fights him briefly, but he’s able to get it down enough for her to see.

She has the same reaction he did. It’s instinctual, the urge to claim your mark. It’s immediately identical and her eyes water and she reaches to touch her mark on his skin.

The second her skin touches the mark it lights, color bleeding into it from the point it meets her fingers outward. It turns the same magnificent blue as her eyes.

“I thought you died.” She gasped out a breath as she looked back up to his face.

“I did.” Hood said. “I got better.” He slowly lets his clothes fall back to their normal places and her eyes watch intently as they do. She looks back up at him and realization sparks in her eyes as he rips his gloves off his hands.

She lowers the hem of her shorts again. They both watch as Jason brings his hand up to touch the mark on her skin. His mark. It responds, glowing faintly as color fills it. Hood is transfixed as he watches the color bleed into it. This is his. She is his and he is hers and he had thought he lost this when he died. The glow to the mark fades as it is entirely filled with a beautiful carmine. It fits him. It’s perfect.

He moves his hand to press the palm flat against the mark. Taking a breath as he looks back at her face. She has gentle tears falling slowly from her eyes. He uses his other hand to brush them away, cradling her face in his hand.

“My name is Maeve.” She tells him, voice gentle and soft.

“I’m Jason.” He responds, voice that same soft tone.

They have a lot to talk about. They both know that they almost missed this. That despite fate trying to match them together, they still almost never met. Maybe that’s why he’s still alive. But they both take this moment for what it is, sacred and meaningful. And they decide that that can wait for a while.

#batman #dc comics #fanfiction #my writing #red hood #jason todd #soulmate au #soulmate marks #original character

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eggplantwaffles · 1 year ago

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i think a big problem with modern batfam comics is that they have so many characters that kinda just overlap- here’s my ideas for how to give each of them their own “niche” to make them unique. Some of this is canon or alluded to is some way- but a lot is just what i think makes sense for each character.

Bruce Wayne

Bruce retires, it’s the only way to give all his kids / kid adjacents their own chance to shine. i’m sure he grumbles about it and watches from the bat cave obsessively, but i’m the end he’s learned to trust the batfam and lets them take care of things.

Dick Grayson

I actually really like where Dick is at in comics right now, i mean it’s not perfect- but I like the idea of Nightwing being a “better” version of Batman for Blüdhaven. He leads the Titans, which are now on par pedigree wise with the Justice League, and as Dick Grayson he is an active member of the community in Blüdhaven, trying to use all his resources to help people. So basically not much changes here.

Barbara Gordon

This one’s easy, just make her Oracle all the time- in the most bad dads way possible. Give me paralyzed Barbara Gordon who has eyes and ears all over the world and is the center of ALL super hero activity. She leads the Birds of Prey, she’s in the ears of all the bats, she’s IT for the Justice League- she does all of it.

Jason Todd

I liked Jason’s character best when he serves as an antagonist. Jason goes back to being a crime lord, and we bring back his ideals of trying to control the crime as opposed to trying to stop it. Jason has good intentions, but he lacks the idealism of the other bats who are constantly trying to save the city without compromising any morals. I think that Jason often butts heads with Tim and Cass (mostly Cass due to her very strict no killing rule) but is mostly left alone by Steph and Damian, who are more willing to accept his methods even if they don’t love them.

Tim Drake

Tim should travel the world “conspiracy hunting,” kind of like how he took down the League of Assassins, except he probably chills out on the blowing up bases all around the world that might (definitely) have people inside. Tim is supposed to be the best detective of the Robins, so lean into that- I want globe trotting - mentally unwell - detective stories where Tim fights big secret organizations or takes down corrupt governments. He is also still apart of Young Justice, though they are all a bit older and are a less official group, the core four are still close and work together- they help keep Tim grounded and remember that he doesn’t have to do everything alone.

Stephanie Brown

I think Stephanie kind of separates herself from the batfamily after her time as Batgirl. I don’t mean that she give up fighting crime, or even gives up wearing the bat symbol, I just mean that she becomes a mostly solo act. Steph becomes Gothams main hero, she does normal vigilante stuff, patrolling the streets, saving the city, detective work, the typical bat stuff. But she’s far more connected to the people of Gotham than Batman ever was, stopping and talking to kids, handing out blankets to the homeless, doing cool flips and batarang trick shots for civilians passing by. Eventually she is the hero most Gothamites associate with their city, and she represents the good parts of Gotham- giving the people hope that they aren’t doomed to be consumed by the city, but that they will be stronger because of it. I also think that things are kinda awkward between her and the bats (except for Dick, Damian, and Barbara) and she tries to keep her distance a bit, considering she was kinda treated like shit as Spoiler and i think Steph deserves to be bitter about that, for a little bit at least.

Cass

Cass becomes Batman, but she operates globally. She’s not like early-Bruce batman who stayed in Gotham, she’s more similar to later batman. She’s in the league, she goes on funky missions to space or other dimensions sometimes, she fights the world ending threats that someone with no powers really should have no business fighting. She also works frequently with Tim and they do some fun little espionage stuff. And while she does return to Gotham, she’s mostly content to leave the city to Steph now- except for all the times she gets into fights with Jason, it bothers her that Steph rarely messes with his operation.

Damian

I really love the idea of Damian getting more into the magical part of DC, I think he should absolutely end up with a Justice League Dark team and learn to do cool magic shit. He goes on a training montage quest like Bruce did, except he’s learning all about magic and demons and cool stuff like that. He has cool magic swords and is sort of the connection between the more grounded part of the universe and the magic parts. He also does a fair bit of globe trotting, looking for ancient mystical artifacts or magical worlds and stuff like that.

Duke Thomas

Duke also mostly stays in Gotham, he’s kinda doing his own thing as The Signal- he still operates during the daytime meaning he doesn’t cross paths with Steph or Jason too often on patrol. There’s not much to change here because Duke is already unique in that he 1- operates during the day and 2- is the only meta-bat, so I don’t need to make a niche for him, DC just needs to use him more.

Random Stuff

- Duke is starting college and takes night classes at Gotham U, Steph is also still in college and is graduating soon

- Tim is either Red Robin, or operating under a new name (I think the Vulture or Condor would be kinda cool but idk)

- The Batfam does not get along like a real family, they are dramatic bitches who fight all the time and have cannot all be in the same room

- Damian and Steph are super close, she was the first person to insist on treating him like a child, which he hated but now that he’s older is grateful for (but he’ll never admit it)

- Damian also sees Dick as his father figure, Bruce is just kinda also there

- Bruce, Alfred, Damian, and Cass all live at the manor- but Damian and Cass are rarely there as they travel a lot and got shit to do

- Barbara lives in the clock tower, she technically lives alone but usually one of Cass, Dick, Dinah, or Helena will be crashing there

- Steph lives alone in the same house she grew up in, her Mom has moved to California or something for a fresh start as she is finally sober, but at this point Steph doesn’t need her. It’s very sad as Steph never truly had a mother, but she’s happy that Crystal is getting another chance away from Gotham.

- Duke swears he’s seen Jason at night classes at Gotham U, but Jason won’t admit it

- The only ones Jason talks to semi-frequently are Dick and Tim, the relationships are super rocky though. Dick sees Jason as his brother first, and since he’s in Blüdhaven he tries not to concern himself with Jason’s business. Tim and Jason do fight a bit but Tim is more lenient than Cass so he can tolerate Jason’s shit if he feels like it’s for the best.

#dc comics #stephanie brown #batgirl #robin #batfamily #damian wayne #tim drake #bat family #cassandra cain #dick grayson #barbara gordon #batman #batfam #batman au #i realized while typing this that i’ve actually created a whole universe in my head #i have a lot more details i could share about this #maybe i’ll learn to write and make a fanfic story in this universe #of course starring my girls steph #if you couldn’t tell she’s my favorite

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possuminabathtub · 3 months ago

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Spooky Scary Stem Majors

A/N : Okay, so this isn't exactly a part 3 of this little thing, and I dunno when inspo for a part 3 will strike, but this little Justice League interlude popped up in my brain and I really just had to write it, and now I'm posting it because why not, might as well, it's my blog (: (something I have to remind myself of sometimes). Anywho, this is mostly just a battle and then chatter between Mel and a bunch of other characters but Danny is involved a bit towards the end, so if you'd rather skip to that banter, I can't stop you. Wordcount : 3836

Bruce had been in his fair share of tight spots, but this was beyond anything he’d ever seen. The Justice League was scattered across the globe, his kids and the vigilantes of Gotham were rallying themselves in an effort to salvage what was ultimately a losing battle. He could see Diana, a gold speck in the distance locked in a vicious tussle with a creature the size of a skyscraper.

Phantom, Danny, was writhing, affected by something, and as much as Bruce’s heart ached and told him he needed to help his son, Dick had it covered, and Bruce wasn’t equipped to go anywhere, with his leg crushed and trapped by debris. Danny was their only hope, and hopefully Zatanna and Constantine were pulling their weight across the globe. The rift needed to be closed.

Lightning cracked through the darkened sky and a hulking giant dressed in bearskin and wielding a massive sword appeared a few feet from Danny. Bruce felt his heart clench with dread. But the giant didn’t even look at Danny, just let out a bellowing roar as lightning struck again, char broiling the nearest hostile creature in matter of seconds, much to Red Robin’s surprise.

It was then that Batman saw what else had arrived, who else had arrived. A small girl, knelt by Danny’s head, pouring something into his mouth. She turned to say something to Nightwing. He squinted. Was that Danny’s friend from University?

No sooner than he’d had the realization, she stood and surveyed the battle with a strategist's eye, tense and confident in her stance. She wore what he thought at first might have been light armor, but swiftly realized was just black cargo pants and a t-shirt. Despite this, she stepped away from Danny, throwing another few words over her shoulder at Nightwing before entering the fray.

He watched as she went up against one of the shapeless and shrieking beings of inky mist and fury, expecting her to be cut down in a moment, wanting to close his eyes but knowing somebody would have to write the report, he didn’t want it to have to be Nightwing. Instead of dying, though, she held a hand out towards it, fingers clawed, and twisted, closing her fist violently. The being crumpled and shrieked, an ungodly sound that reverberated and echoed unnaturally.

She bared her teeth, and her outstretched arm tensed. It shrunk even further, the shrieking turning to a cacophony of agony. The sound rose to a fever pitch as it shattered apart, smoke and fog spilling out across the ground and flowing around her legs, climbing up and settling around her shoulders like a cloak, wisps of it curling around her limbs. She advanced.

Pitch black hair whipped around her face as she made her way through the battlefield, an indomitable opponent in this apparent battle of wills. Time grew fluid as he watched her turn the tide of a losing battle, all while ignoring the Bats entirely, singularly focused on her goal. Her skin was too pale, her hair too dark, her demeanor deadly calm, and he decided she was something inhuman, even if he couldn’t determine what given his state.

The battlefield quieted degree by degree, and the Bats retreated, gathering about Danny, who had stopped writhing, but hadn’t risen. It ended silently, the last being dissipating without a sound, and the girl stood still for a long moment. When she turned, she met the viking giant's gaze. A single nod from her, and he disappeared as well.

She returned to Danny’s side.

Timothy and Jason helped extricate Bruce from the rubble, and he leaned heavily on Jason as they hobbled slowly over to where the team was gathering. The girl had a single hand pressed to Danny’s chest, gaze intently focused on nothing they could see. She stood abruptly.

“He’s alright.” She said tonelessly, “The Veil has been sealed, here and elsewhere.”

Wonder Woman approached, looking much worse for wear but still in one piece, “Constantine and Zatanna both send word that their rifts have been closed. The battle is over and I propose we return to the Watchtower.”

Everybody agreed to that. The girl dutifully picked up Danny like he weighed nothing, and followed them silently. None of his children objected, infact they seemed familiar with her. They could discuss her presence during the debrief. She was powerful, no telling by what measure, so it was best to keep her close for now.

She didn't leave Danny’s bedside in the medical bay. The aftermath of a battle of that magnitude was massive, and the medical bay was overrun, so she faded easily into the chaos as she tucked herself against his cot and didn’t move throughout the entirety of it, just watching him closely.

“Her name is Mel,” Jason informed him, from where he appeared at his bedside, “She’s his English tutor, they’re in classes together, good friends. I knew she was a badass, but that was...,” he whistled a low tone, “that was a whole other level.”

—

Mel ignored the formal summon to the debriefing meeting. It had been 26 hours, and everybody else had been healed one way or another, but Danny was still out, recovering but in no danger according to Zatanna. She took the cardstock and folded it, slid it in her pocket, and resumed watching Danny. It took balls to so blatantly ignore the Justice League, and Jason had to commend her for that, but it also meant B had made him go talk to her, cause he was apparently the one that had the best rapport with her.

“Look, I get that you’re keeping an eye out for him, but he’s alright, and the Justice League is getting all up in arms about you being here.” Jason finally explained to her. She stood up, and he thanked all of his lucky stars as he walked out of the room with her in tow.

“We don’t even know who she is!” Constantine shouted at someone as the pair walked into the meeting hall.

The silence was deafening as the doors slid shut. Jason glanced towards Batman, and he gestured for him to sit. He sat in his usual seat next to Nightwing. Mel took an empty seat without so much as a pause, hands folded neatly in her lap as she surveyed the table, waiting for something. The hall stayed terribly silent and Jason couldn’t keep the grin from creeping up on his face, always grateful for his choice in full coverage helmet.

Superman opened his mouth, probably to start off with something diplomatic and placating before Constantine opened his big mouth again. She cut him off instead.

“You all owe me.” She stated flatly, “Big time.”

To his left, Nightwing choked on a laugh.

“Excuse me?” Superman asked, brows drawing together in a baffled expression that was almost comical. Jason was going to review the hell out of this footage later.

“You owe me,” She enunciated, “For cleaning up your fucking mess. This is why we don’t poke the big Afterlife wasp nest, because getting stung fucking hurts, and pest control just wanted to take a nap.”

Superman had the decency to look mollified, even if he was being lectured by a five foot nothing college student. Jason decided on the spot that they were going to create a new folder in the mask footage hall of fame just for Mel.

“And how exactly, did you clean up that mess?” Zatanna interjected before Constantine could.

“Returned the spirits to their side of the veil, then sealed it back up.” She answered, which opened up about as many questions as it answered.

“Are you one of Phantom’s subjects?” Damian asked, surprising the table, but it was a good question when he thought about it. She had appeared to help Danny, and apparently had some experience with ghosts and the afterlife.

“No.” She didn’t elaborate. Watching the table get more and more frustrated by her lack of explanation would be more fun if Jason wasn’t also in the dark, he decided.

“What are you?” Constantine asked, despite Zatanna smacking him in the shoulder.

“Mechanical Engineering Major, and I have a midterm in two days, so if this meeting is wrapping up, I think I’ll see myself out.” She started to stand.

“We can’t let you do that,” Superman said, and Jason could see that even the golden boy was getting a little irritated. “We’re grateful for your assistance, but you’re still an unknown entity.” He explained carefully.

“I don’t plan on becoming known, so thanks but no thanks, I only stepped in to help a friend.” She retorted as easily as breathing, eyes growing dark as Constantine stood, words already spilling from his big mouth.

“Uh-uh, you don’t get to swoop in, change the tide of a ghost battle a little goth girl could only dream of, and promptly fuck back off!” God he was loud, and stupider than anybody gave him credit for.

“Don’t I?” Her voice vibrated with an inhuman quality, dangerous and barely restrained, and as she tilted her head to the side, Jason was reminded of a predator staring down prey. Her mismatched black and silver eyes almost glowed in the bright lights, and a chill ran up his spine. Apparently everybody else felt it too, a wave of fear rippling out across the table.

Constantine at least knew when he had overstepped, falling into a grumbling silence, but the hint of triumph in his eyes told Jason that it had probably been his plan all along. On the other side of Nightwing, Batman balked in his chair.

“Okay, I’ll propose a compromise,” She said, shattering the tension with her blunt words, “Either let Phantom and the gaggle of Bats deal with me, or,” she thought a moment, “I actually don’t have an alternative, that’s your only option, take it or leave it.” Her grin was all sharp fangs.

“That defeats the point of providing an ultimatum,” Wonder Woman pointed out diplomatically.

“Got it in one,” Mel responded flippantly, and then narrowed her eyes at Wonder Woman, curious maybe, before returning her gaze to the rest of the table. “So what’s it going to be?”

“What’s stopping us from just keeping you here?” Flash spoke up. Sometimes Jason really questioned that man's supposed genius status, but he could be a good hero, and the question was genuine enough.

“Common sense, perhaps,” She replied with a shrug, “If I don’t want to be here, there’s truly not all that much you can do to keep me here. I’m only still here for Phantom.”

“You’re some sort of Realms being,” Constantine accused, brow furrowed as he looked at something only he could see.

“Not even close,” She was growing tired of the back and forth. “Listen, we can do this all night, but historically these sort of ordeals have minimal success, and I’d really rather keep all my fingernails, so let’s just skip all that.” A concerning sentence for another time he decided as she continued, “If the Ghost King called on me as an ally, do you really think I’m going to just turn around and attack the rest of you?” She didn’t let them answer, “No, that entirely defeats the point of saving your asses. It won’t happen again, that much I can promise.”

“And you,” She pointed a finger at Constantine, and her voice started the vibrate again, at a frequency that made Jason’s bones itch as a wave of dread spilled across the room like a fog, “If you ever allow this League to cause that sort of Rift in the Veil again, I will personally collect every little shard and fragment of your soul that you’ve sold and tether you to a circle of hell that doesn’t exist yet.”

With that, she stalked out of the room. They sat in silence for a moment before Jason let out an audible snort of laughter and walked out as well. Before the door even slid shut he heard the conversation burst into full swing.

Mel was on her way back to med bay, unsurprising, so he jogged to catch up with her. For her height, she was fast, and terrifyingly silent. He looked over at her, and saw that tendrils of her hair were flicking back and forth, like a bundle of cat tails, weird.

“I really do have a midterm the day after tomorrow,” She finally said, and he restrained his snort. “Intro to Thermo, it’s gonna kill me,”

“Danny would say it’s not a problem for him,” Jason started.

“Cause he’s already dead,” She finished and cracked a smile, “Yeah I’m not that lucky, just dead on the inside.”

They stopped in front of the Med bay and she turned her head as Jason punched in a code and the door slid open.

“Damn, and I thought we could be the three musketeers of half dead folks,” He said as they walked in.

“Three Stooges maybe,” Danny mumbled, and Mel’s smile turned into a grin as she took quick steps to his bedside, where he was already sitting up, upon seeing that he was alright though, she launched swiftly into shouting.

“Next time call me before you do the stupid shit, not as you’re actively re-dying,” She snapped, and Danny just looked over at Jason like this was the most normal thing in the world, “No, mírame, you little shit! You can’t just go do that! I was taking a nap, I only had time to grab one of my knives! Uno! I know I said I’m for emergencias pero llamame primero por el amor de dios!!”

Danny just grinned at her, and she let out a long suffering sigh.

“I’m glad you’re not fully dead, but I might just kill you myself, you absolute bastard.”

“Well now that the reunion is over, can we get the whole squad back to the cave so we can play twenty questions with your friend here, Danno?” Jason asked. He was going to absolutely cherish this days video feed for years to come, comedy gold. He’d submit it to a youtube channel if it weren’t classified. Mel busting out the Spanish hadn’t been on his bingo card, but his chest ached from keeping his laughter to himself, and possibly the cracked ribs.

“Let’s go,”

—

Mel had settled into the comfy chair in front of the batcomputer, somehow, and nobody had evicted her so she decided she was probably fine. The Batcave wasn't a terrible place, a little dark and probably haunted, but not nearly the worst place she had spent time.

She tucked one leg beneath her body, getting comfortable as the rest of the Bats found themselves seats in less and less suitable places, like Nightwing, who perched on a surprisingly stable rolling cart.

“So, 20 questions, go,” She started, wanting to get it over with sooner rather than later. She knew about Batman’s whole no meta’s in Gotham thing, which Danny told her was more for the safety of the city than a hard and fast rule.

“Okay, so, actually no,” Danny argued immediately, “They can ask relevant questions,” He specified, and the girl in the purple suit, Spoiler, groaned. “And you can reserve the right not to answer,” He added, which Batman Hn’d at but didn't immediately refute.

“Are you a ghost?” The boy in the red suit and black cowl, Red Robin, jumped at the chance to ask a question and the rest of the bats, who had opened their mouths, presumably to ask questions of their own, went silent.

“I don't know, am I?” She retorted, baring fangs just for the sake of it, but Danny shot her a glare and she relented, no point in being needlessly combative when she was trying to prove she wasn't a threat. “No. I'm not.”

“What are you?” The small one, Sword Robin asked, tone frostier than she expected of a kid his size. She could respect the guts, but the question irked her.

“Ask in a nicer way and I might just tell you,” She said, narrowing her eyes at the kid. Keeping her powers reigned in could be difficult in the best of times, but the last two days had it itching beneath her skin. She'd thought letting it out at such a magnitude would exhaust her, and it had, for a bit, but now it wanted to run wild again, wanted to wreak havoc and shred everything in its path.

“What is the range of your power set?” Signal asked, and she had to give him credit for that, at least he seemed to know what he was doing? Meta to meta in a way. She wasn't necessarily a meta, but they didn't need to know that.

“That’s a complicated question,” She said and hummed thoughtfully, ignoring the way her power thrummed in her chest, begging her to release it. Maybe this had been a mistake. But she couldn't find it in herself to abandon her friend. Couldn't lose him too. “Thematically, they're all generally related. I'm not endlessly powerful, it's a limited set of abilities, each with limited strength. I'm not Danny, picking up a new power every other week,”

“And what is this set of abilities?” Red Robin asked while Nightwing mouthed ‘thematically related?’ at Hood.

“Currently Irrelevant.”

Clearly none of them particularly liked this answer, and off to her right Danny sighed.

“Mel, come on, you did go and absolutely solo a battle the Justice League was losing, you don't have to give them your entire dossier but a little explanation would be nice,” He pointed out, giving her the puppy dog eyes. Fuck, why was it always the puppy dog eyes.

She groaned and ran a hand through her hair, collecting herself and trying to find a way to explain it that didn't sound insane. It was the bats, they'd probably heard weirder, but that didn't console her much.

“What you saw out there, that was a mixture of my control over ectoplasm and spirit entities.” She finally said, and Danny grinned smugly at her, that little shit. “I’m used to bringing spirits across the Veil, so I can send them back as well, although doing it for those spirits was…a process, to say the least.”

“So you have some similar powers to Phantom,” Nightwing said.

“Surface level, sure, let's say that,” She acquiesced, for their sake, “But we operate with fundamentally different methods. Phantom is partially a being of the Infinite Realms, I’m not.”

“I will repeat my earlier question,” Sword Robin spoke up again, tone only a fraction warmer than it had been before, but it was still progress, “What are you?”

“Human,” It was true, mostly, and as much as she'd give them.

“Human adjacent,” Danny corrected, and Mel shot him a glare as he just grinned back at her. What the fuck was he doing?

“Adjacent?” Nightwing echoed as she continued to glare at Danny, wondering if it would be an abuse of power to command him to shut up for the rest of the conversation.

“Red is just gonna stalk you and find out anyways,” He said with a shrug, and she wondered if her eye was twitching, it felt like it was. “It’s a love language, I promise, and I told you you were adoption bait when you got here.”

“Absolutely not. I am not cut out for the hero vigilante gig, and you know that better than anyone, Danny.” Her tone got deadly serious, and she felt emotion well up and thrum in her vocal chords, so she promptly shut her mouth. Didn’t want to bring down the cave around them.

“Your performance would indicate otherwise.” Sword Robin was chatty today, and chilly as ever, “Why do you restrict your skillset to struggling through a college degree?”

Her focus snapped to the small Robin. Despite the suit and stance and demeanor, he couldn’t even be out of middle school. Even the youngest at camp had never been that young.

“Maybe because child soldiers never get a happy ending,” She said tonelessly, caging her snarl in her chest and maintaining her emotional distance the best that she could, by detaching from the situation and feeling her fingertips go numb, her tongue heavy in her mouth and her voice too loud in her own ears. She was familiar with their kind, and while they were just different enough, her heart still ached in her chest.

“Sorcerer?” A girl in a full black suit asked, Orphan, she thought, a terrible name, and horribly broad for their line of work.

“That depends on your definition of Sorcerer, and Magic. Instead of getting into that I’ll clarify that yes, my abilities are defined by my bloodline, and no, I do not practice magic. I’m not a witch, wizard, enchantress, or any other variation either.” Mel’s tone remained flat, but she was surprised that Hood hadn’t asked any questions yet. Ignoring that he’d probably have questions later, she focused back on the conversation.

“There was another man,” Batman’s gravelly voice spoke up, although it wasn’t a question, just a statement. She waited. “Who is he?”

“He is a ghost,” She answered, not sure whether or not to be grateful for the change of topic or worried that she was being interrogated by Batman. “He serves as an ally of mine when needed, but otherwise he stays in Valhalla.”

Danny looked surprised by this information and looked to her with a questioning gaze. Sometimes she forgot just how much information she kept to herself.

“Valhalla’s real?” Nightwing piped up, tone almost comically shocked.

“Most afterlives are, the Infinite Realms are, afterall, by definition, infinite. You work with the Ghost King, I thought you would have known that.” She narrowed her eyes at him just slightly, and he looked affronted.

“It never came up,” Danny mentioned in defense of his blue suited friend. She let it go.

“Do you have a place to stay?” That was a question she had been two parts dreading and one part expecting, although not directly from Batman himself. She stared at him.

“Yes. Gotham University.” She realized her tone had gotten clipped but couldn’t find it in herself to care. “Track me down, look me up, I don’t care, according to Danny I can’t stop you, but I assure you I need nothing from you, any of you.” Danny looked a bit sad, but he knew he didn’t count in that statement, just being dramatic. She stood from the Batcomputer chair. “If you need my brand of help, don’t waste time finding me. I’ll already know. Your problems are all frustratingly loud.”

With that, she glanced at Danny one last time before stalking across the catwalk to the elevator and punching the button. It slid open and she stepped inside. She didn’t bother waiting for it to rise, just disappeared and set a course back to her shitty University dorm room.

#Spooky Scary Stem Majors #dc x dp #Mel #possum writes #writing #fanfic #batfam #justice league #dc comics #dc fanfic #oc fanfiction #oc

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dizaryswrites · 7 months ago

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I have a confession to make!

I don’t know how obvious it is, but I actually haven’t read any comics 😅 I know, I know haha, it’s just I haven’t had the time! Luckily, I mostly follow blogs that I know are comic readers so I know what’s fanon and canon mostly. But since I will have free time in the summer, I was wondering if you have any recommendations on what to read and where to start?

Oh man I WISH I could be one of those blogs who snaps out the long scroll that just rolls down the hallway with a concise cross referenced list of top hits from every era and where to start with each character! But I am a book hoarder with not enough time on my hands so I haven't even read half of what I have, let alone all the back issues 😅

Here's some stuff that I really enjoyed as a new-to-comics-and-DC reader and in general (in mostly chronological order because that's how I arrange my comic books):

Batman: Dark Victory

I really enjoyed the mystery and early Batman days, plus Dick Grayson's debut! He is a delight. I didn't read Long Halloween which comes before this so I missed some context but I picked it up easy enough (also according to some reviews the mystery can be repetitive if you have read Long Halloween sooo win for me ig?)

Robin: Year One

I am determined to read this one soon. I've heard great things about it though so it's being added

Batman: Prodigal

I read this without reading a single page of Knightfall because I was getting interested in Nightwing and this was the earliest book that my library had available (I have given up on a chronological reading order since those early foolish days). I knew nothing and still really enjoyed Dick!Bats and Robin!Tim together. I need to reread this soon

Formerly Known as the Justice League

A limited run, 6 issues I think. Honestly I should just say Justice League International in general but I started with this mini for Booster Gold and Blue Beetle after seeing some funny panels online and I fell in love with that whole cast of losers (affectionate). It's not BatFam but so so fun to read (and JLI has some really poignant moments too)

Young Justice: A League of Their Own

SO FUN. Tim and friends dealing with just ridiculous scenarios LOL I'm only halfway through but it's great

Batman: Hush

I haven't read a lot of just Batman titles but I enjoyed Hush. It had some good character moments for Bruce that helped me understand the way he thinks a little more. I also hear Bruce Wayne: Murder/Fugitive is very very good but I haven't gotten around to it yet (a running theme)

Batgirl: Point Blank

Cass is a treat. This was the first volume I found of her's, haven't read the others yet, but even lacking context I really enjoyed her as the main character and her interactions with Steph, Babs, and Bruce.

Teen Titans (Geoff Johns)

This was one of the first series I started reading and it was a good intro for me, a completely new DC fan. It's Tim and his friends but more serious than YJ. I've read vol 1-2 and part of 3

Under The Red Hood

Classic for good reason. I haven't finished it yet (teehee) but the first half has been entertaining. Jason has had some um... interesting writing in his time. But I really enjoy the way he's written here. It's a good baseline imo. I've heard Lost Days is also good

Nightwing (Tomasi run)

I love Tomasi and this run was a lot of fun. Dick is funny while not losing his serious, capable edge, he interacts with people in his circles, and has some interesting introspection moments. There's a weird part of the plot about midway that definitely uses bad Asian stereotypes which is so disappointing. But after that it gets normal again 😅

Batman & Robin

This comes right after Tomasi's run and it's a mixed bag for me. It's definitely interesting seeing Dick and Damian learning to work together but I was still new to DC with little context for things and was also *so* put off by the art style that I don't remember it well. But I thought I'd add it anyway since it's an iconic moment for Dick!Bats

Batman and Robin (Tomasi)

I adore Bruce and Damian struggling together to discover what being father and son looks like for them. I adore Damian having growth. That's volumes 1-3. 4 is post Damian's death (and damn issue 1 is a well written look at grief), I haven't read 5 or beyond yet.

Nightwing (Rebirth)

The first Nightwing title I read. Looking back, the characterization is a bit weak in some areas, doesn't quite match how he's written in older runs, but it had good moments and kept me entertained. Especially!!! In vol 3 with Humphries's Judge arc

For more current runs, I'm really enjoying World's Finest. Waid's writing is good and Mora's art is just *cartoon heart eyes*. Bats, Supes, and teenage Dick Grayson are a fun trio. Amid other runs that had me tearing my hair out in disappointment or frustration, WF is a breath of fresh air.

Titans United: Bloodpact is a 6 issue limited that was also a really nice read. It's Dick's Titans but Tim is there too and I enjoyed everyone's writing.

The Human Target (Tom King) but honestly I was just losing my mind over Greg Smallwood's art and paneling the entire time. A masterpiece. I want to frame every page. I cheered when he posted inspiration threads on Twitter.

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen

It's not Batfam but hear me out!!!! This comic had some of the sweetest moments between Supes and Jimmy and I wanted to grab literally anybody by the shoulders and shake them until they looked at the Lois, Clark, & Jimmy in the helicopter panel and GOT IT!!! Also it is so delightfully wacky and funny, I was genuinely laughing out loud. Steve's Lieber's art is the perfect pairing with Matt Fraction's writing.

AND SPEAKING OF!

This isn't DC at all but it's the series that made me (and so many others) really love comics and their storytelling potential. Matt Fraction's Hawkeye run, volumes 1-4. Between his writing and David Aja's artwork and color theory (and Steve Lieber's guest issue that literally gut punched me and changed how I saw later parts of the story, it was never just a filler issue to me, Steve) you get a great story that says so much with so little (in the best way) and is a visual treat as well. Chef's kiss.

Some other non-DC comics I really enjoyed are Die (imagine Jumanji but D&D and novels and oh look the consequence of your actions has grown up), Something is Killing the Children Vol. 1 (I am not a horror girly but I really enjoyed this, in no small part because of Dell'edera's art), Eight Billion Genies (the world population hits 8 billion and now everyone gets a genie, what could go possibly wrong), and Paper Girls which I'm about 2/3 through (picture stranger things but with time travel, spaceships?, and oh shit is future me lying??)

Damn, I guess I really did have a scroll's worth. 😭 Anyway, my recommendation for where to start with this list is...what does your library have available? Don't forget about the Hoopla app too, that's where I read some of these digitally. Or the used bookstore which is where I got 90% of my comics from.

But seriously! Just pick whatever sounds the most fun or has the character(s) you're the most interested in and go from there. Skip around on the timeline or go in chronological order. Whatever floats your boat! I think that's the really unique thing about comics. Plus if you can't figure out the context of what you're missing or what is happening simultaneously (because writers & editorial used to care a little more) you can do a quick google or (and I wish I had this with Batgirl) @cephalog0d has a pinned timeline master list. Incredible.

#let me know what you end up reading!!#a lil summer book club haha #dizarys answers #comic recs #I've definitely forgotten some I can feel ot

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aduncanrant · 11 months ago

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Nightwing Movie

Soo, I see how troubled this topic is so here is my take.

First, let's see what I wouldn't make: For the love of god please don't make Dick incompetent. It's like this man has been fighting crime since he was twelve in the most conservative runs in comics or since he is eight/nine in my favorites. Do you really think that man would be like "I don't know how to be without Batman"? Like really? In some runs, he stops crime by himself just about the time he starts working as Robin (not an expert but I can think of Robin: First Year and how he fights that school of assassins when he is fired as Robin, IN HIS FIRST YEAR) and he has lead the Teen Titans since he is twelve/thirteen.

And I get it there's this trope in movies of making a character relatable for the audience. But we have so many movies with the same thing: A normal dude overcomes his self-worth problems and becomes actually someone for in the next movie to be a normal dude again. I HATE that trope. And I get it this is actually the story of Robin in comics, he exists to be a reflection of the readers, but that doesn't make him average. Actually the opposite: he is extraordinary. But that doesn't mean I don't want to make him flawed. But I want something different than fighting and detective incompetence.

Second: I wouldn't make yet another Robin grow to be Nightwing. Yeah! I know! This is like THE movie most people want, but I think that to make it work it has to be attached to the whole Titans run and a deeper intervention of Batman that I would like to evade. I'm thinking about a movie to introduce the public to the concept of Nightwing, not a full flesh cinematic universe attached (in that case I would have first a long timeline of Robin, Teen Titans, Nightwing, Titans, Batman, etc).

But I want to preserve the full world of superheroes living in a relationship with him (Am I making sense?) but the center being Nightwing himself, not the other heroes. They exist, and we have enough references to make the fans have fun searching all of them. But we don't have Batman or the Titans entering the story and intervening more than Nightwing himself.

So let's introduce the things I would do: I think the perfect point to get into Nightwing lore is with the introduction of Blüdhaven but not as a Robin gets into Blüdhaven and surfaces as Nightwing but as a Nightwing finally finding what that mantle actually means. A way that is different from Gotham and Batman.

My first scene would be deep in the night, everything in high contrast cyan and the darkest black you could find. He would jump towards some buildings gaining height till he reaches a big skyscraper (close shot to the mouth smiling) and the emblem in his chest to move through the night like a bird soaring in the sky as he descents from so high above that anyone would call it a certain death. It would be a good start, like to see how he is different and add that thing of he liking the adrenaline. He throws a line toward a much smaller building and reaches a street.

A group of criminals can be seen in the alley and behind only Nightwing eyes can be seen. Long story short this is where we have to show his fighting abilities (WITHOUT him needing to be saved by anyone) I would like to give a spin to the classical punch and go with heavy grounds in Aikido, like I don't want him to fall in his back like ever, his fighting style has to look like a dance. And obviously, he will have the jumps and turns of an acrobat. The shot is intersected but mostly red shots of Robin fighting alongside Batman.

I'd like the shots to form a continuous scene between the two timelines to show that no matter the change of colors he is still the same child he was back then. The nail in the coffin is when he reports to Batman through the coms. Showing that even now he is still in the shadow of the bat (without the senseless bickering that the authors usually have them do).

The next scene starts with him entering a room from the window. Here the colors normalize and we have a room with a lot of oranges and browns. I wanna keep the naturally disorganized nature of Dick, which also conveys the fact that he has not his personal life in order too. There can be a feast for fans to look out for easter eggs, like photos and items, that stuff.

Oracle's voice comes from the comes as he undresses himself for the night. She tells him that the intel says those men come from a mob in Blüdhaven, and he agrees to investigate the town the next day. Roll the introduction credits (side note I'd love it to be a dripping cyan stain that moves around the screen revealing characters in one gradient color, a little like the Teen Titans cartoon intro?).

Part 2

#dick grayson #nightwing #nightwingmovie

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cannibalisticcorpse · 1 year ago

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do you have any recommendations for dick and jason (together or separate, both is fine) comics for someone who’s just starting to read them? i have some knowledge of the characters and batfam and i’ve read several batman comics, but i never really got into the robins-after-they-were-robins comis so i’d like to start with dick and jason…thank you so much :)

so firstly, i deffo reason waaay more jason than i do dick. most of my dick recs will be things i haven't finished reading or haven't read more than like 3 random back issues of XD

dick:

any nightwing solo is a good place to start (okay, not any, but you can find comics on readcomiconline and with an adblocker the site is useable. peruse the different nightwing runs, if it sucks drop it)

i've heard spyral is good, i think the comic might just be called "grayson"

pretty much any titans comic pre-2003 would be dick grayson (typically as robin, but not always)

there are some post 2003 titans comics with dick too

i like "the titans" (1999) the most, personally (my tip for finding the right titans run, because there are so many, is to look at the font of the title. then look at the author)

honestly if you're fine just jumping in and figuring it out as you go (which you kinda need to be), i'd sooo heavily rec that run to start you with

and, of course, there's the outsiders run from 2009 with dick and roy <3

jason:

i dont really have any robin-era jason recs, but he wasn't robin for too long, so if you're interested it's not too hard to read some!

death in the family (comic where he dies. it's weird and also islamophobic iirc, buut it's important to his backstory. not too long. im a slow slow slow heavily dyslexic reader and it only took me 2 days)

under the red hood (comic where he comes back. a longer read, but VERY fun. villain jason and competent jason. you understand the framework for all of his post-robin/post-resurrection drive)

lost days (also pretty long. i go back and forth on if i personally liked it. but it covers the time between him coming back to life and him returning to gotham- because he stayed gone even after he came back)

red hood and the outlaws n52 (i think it came out in 2011)- this comic sucks, but it's kinda fun! i really enjoy it. if you're fanfic-inclined you might like it (because it prompts a lot of fun ideas without ever presenting very many on its own and never doing anything with them). it's the origin of the jason/roy thing which i am so obsessed with

red hood/arsenal (continuation of the last comic, now without The Girl.. buut kori was written really misogynistically so, congrats kori on getting free

then there's red hood and the outlaws rebirth (which is a different team and some ppl like this comic more), then there's red hood: outlaw, i forget if there's more or whatever the order is. there's also a webtoon with the same naming scheme. im collecting the physical comic, you'd think i'd know this. but these runs are LONG.

for current comics, there's "task force z" which came out like a year or two ago, and then "joker: the man who stopped laughing" which is mostly abt the joker but also about jason hunting him and trying to kill him

jason & dick, together:

honestly i dont read too much stuff with the both of them in it? idk. jason doesn't team up with many batfam ppl on the reg, i guess. like they're never really On A Team together. most of their comics together are from Events. but dick appears in task force z, a little red hood and the outlaws too, and jason is in a little bit of outsiders. like they have cameos, i mean.

there was a nightwing annual (i think 2021) about jason & dick teaming up.

they were both in robin war (but that's the conclusion of "we are robin") (not too long, i think it took me about a week to read all 3 paperbacks)

other ppl feel free to add on!

#jason todd #dick grayson #batfam #anon #comic recommendations

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wordingg · 2 years ago

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Two Weeks Notice Ch. 1

// Summary: Tim Drake disappears without warning, and the bats blame the Red Hood. Jason doesn't know who took Tim or where he went, but he knows that finding out before the bats will be the sweetest revenge. What he finds only begs more questions, each one more uncomfortable than the last.

A parallel story to Early Retirement. //

Jason Todd learned that Tim Drake-Wayne was missing when the rest of the world learned about it. It was a normal cold November day when the only real item of note was Tim’s face splashed across the front page of every major newspaper in Gotham.

Despite reports to the contrary, Jason was not heartless. He might not be showing up to Christmas Dinner at Wayne Manor, but he cared about the kids who did. So, he did the only thing he could do. He read the articles printed in the papers, he read the Wayne Enterprises official statement, he even skimmed through a few of the less trashy tabloids to see what the fringe media was talking about. Through all that reading, nothing jumped out as troubling. Nobody was speculating that Tim had been kidnapped or that he was hurt or missing. Everyone was just saying that he had suddenly retired. Tim was barely eighteen and had been a CEO since he was sixteen and Robin since he was thirteen. As far as Jason was concerned, good for him.

So, Jason brushed it off. If it wasn’t exactly what it looked like (Tim finally getting out from under the weight of a whole ass company being dropped on him), then it was probably for some totally batshit plan Bruce cooked up. It would have twenty steps, fifteen of them would be completely useless, and would probably take months for any results to come through. Either way, it was none of Jason’s business.

Jason Todd was the Red Hood, the anti-hero of Gotham city who skirted the line between hero and villain on a daily basis. That was how the public saw him. Through his work with the Outlaws, he had improved his image with the hero community. He would get calls to back up heroes in other cities sometimes, thought it wasn’t uncommon for other heroes to give him the side eye even though he was on their side. But, he was still persona non grata for the Bats. If something colossal went down, he would show up and help to throw some punches, but that was it. He wasn’t on their comm channels, he didn’t show up for Sunday Brunch, and he sure as hell didn’t get tagged in on any of their operations. For the most part, he didn’t fuck with them, and they didn’t fuck with him. It was a pretty shitty setup, but it worked. At this point, Jason just wanted to leave it alone.

So, after checking into it as much as he was able to, he went about his life without a thought to what was going on with Tim Drake-Wayne.

That changed just three days after Tim went missing.

Jason had been following a tip about a human trafficking ring that operated around Hyde Park, at the south end of the Narrows. They targeted preteen girls mostly, but had also grabbed a few young women in the past few weeks. He had been sitting on a nearby roof with a pair of binoculars and a half-eaten meatball sub when the sound of a cape snapping shut sounded behind him.

Jason didn’t turn, and he didn’t flinch. He didn’t even take the binoculars away from his eyes.

“What the fuck do you want, old man?” Jason grumbled, training his binoculars on a portly man walking suspiciously slowly around the duck pond in the center of the park.

Jason’s answer was the prick of a dart hitting him in the neck, right above his armor. He had it out in a second, whirling on Bruce with a feral growl, even as he felt whatever he had been stuck with quickly sap his strength.

“You piece of shit!” Jason tried to snarl, although it came out as more of a slur.

He collapsed to his knees, his eyesight becoming unfocused and blurry. He could just make out Nightwing and Robin land on the roof behind Batman’s ominous black silhouette before his vision faded out, and he surrendered to unconsciousness.

~ ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ ~

When Jason swam back to consciousness, he was cuffed to a metal table in an unfortunately familiar interrogation room. The table was stainless steel with a single bolt in it that his handcuffs were attached to. He was sitting in a stainless steel chair with a matching chair pushed in across the table from him. A single bright light hung above the table, reminiscent of an old crime noir movie.

Bruce loomed in the corner, the tightness of his mouth testifying to how shitty his mood was.

“What the fuck is your problem?” Jason sneered, his speech slightly slurred. He had drooled on the table and tried ineffectually to wipe the drool off his face with the sleeve of his leather jacket.

“Where is Tim?” Bruce rumbled. His voice sounded like the quiet grinding of stones in a mill, the danger of being crushed hidden between the words.

“How the fuck should I know?” Jason spat.

The punch that landed on his jaw was lightning quick, but he had been expecting it. He let his head roll with it, even as he felt a muscle in his neck jump and scream with the strain.

“I KNOW YOU HAVE HIM. WHERE IS HE!” Bruce screamed about two inches from Jason’s face.

Jason scrunched his nose at the volume and the spittle landing all over him, but kept himself loose and carefully regulated his breathing.

“I told you. I. Don’t. Know,” Jason enunciated very clearly.

“You tried to kill him twice already. You are the most likely culprit,” Bruce growled, literally baring his teeth at Jason like a dog.

“That was fucking years ago!” Jason shouted before physically reining in his temper. “I haven’t seen or heard from Tim in months. Look me in the eye and tell me I’m lying,” he said. Bruce could do exactly that, since Jason was missing his domino. Based on how painful the skin around his eyes were, it felt like it had been ripped off without any time taken to dissolve the glue.

Bruce stared at him for a long, pregnant moment. Or, maybe it was better to say that the white lenses in Batman’s cowl stared at him. There was no Bruce there, not that Jason had seen any hint of the man he once considered his father in years. He sometimes fantasized that Bruce was gone, as dead as he himself had once been, replaced completely with Batman. A demon from the darkest shadows of Gotham that walked around wearing his father’s skin to smile for the cameras before returning to the darkness.

After a long moment, Batman pulled back and looked up into the corner of the room, just above and behind Jason. Jason knew that a camera was installed there, with an innocuous red light to indicate it was recording. It was a red herring, though. The red light could be flashed by whoever was sitting behind the one way glass to communicate messages to Batman. Whatever message Batman received, he backed off a little bit and stood on the far side of the table.

“If you don’t have Tim, then you know who does,” he said, back to his quiet, dangerous rumble as if he had never lost control in the first place.

“I haven’t heard anything,” Jason said with a roll of his eyes. “Nobody’s talking about a missing bird. The only things I’ve heard are what’s in the papers.”

Another long pause. Jason kept staring at the impassive face of the cowl and, while he couldn’t see Bruce’s eyes, he was sure they were watching the flashing of the light just behind his head.

“You will investigate among your contacts and report back,” Bruce bit out, like the words tasted vile in his mouth, before retreating through the only door.

“Like hell I will,” Jason grumbled.

The door swung shut with a final sounding clank. Jason heard the sound of a lock automatically engaging. He sighed heavily and let his head thunk down on the table in front of him.

How was this his life? It should be illegal for one person to have to take so many hard knocks, even a bad person like him. His own dad (ex-dad?) had hauled him in to interrogate him over his sort of brother’s disappearance. He had even roughed him up a bit. He couldn’t even pretend this was a special kind of hatred, either. Jason imagined the only reason he got the interrogation room treatment was because he was one of their few rogues who knew their identities. It was likely a lot of people had gotten similar treatments in the past few days, just in shady back alleys and basements instead of the Batcave itself.

Jason didn’t know how long he sat there waiting for someone to remember he couldn’t actually leave while handcuffed, locked in, and on the Batcave’s threat list. It felt like a long time of just letting his bruised cheek rest against the cold metal table and thinking about how everything was bullshit and pondering what destructive thing he was going to do to bury the more insidious feelings squirming in his gut. Maybe he would blow up a car? Blowing up cars was always strangely satisfying.

While he was considering whose car he should blow up for maximum chaos and enjoyment (Roman’s? Harvey’s? Oh, the mayor’s???) the door finally opened again and Nightwing stepped inside.

What Jason could see below the domino was stony. Jason didn’t know Dick super well before his death, and they certainly hadn’t bonded after he came back. He didn’t know how Dick felt about him hanging out with his ex-girlfriend and one of his ex-best friends, but he imagined it didn’t exactly make him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Not that Jason gave a shit. Imagining Dick’s constipated face every time Starfire gave him a hug was always a high point for him.

Nightwing stared at him for a stupidly long time, probably waiting for Jason to say something snarky so that he could chastise him and make him the bad guy somehow. Well, he could go fuck himself. Jason knew for a fact he was way more stubborn than golden boy Dick Grayson. He could sit in this cell all night saying fuck all if he needed to. Eventually, Dick sighed and crossed the small space to unlock Jason’s handcuffs.

“This wasn’t personal,” Nightwing said under his breath as he stepped away.

Jason got to his feet slowly and rubbed the circulation back into his hands. Whoever had put the cuffs on him had put them on way too tight. On top of that, whatever knockout juice they got him with hadn’t totally worn off, so he would have to take it easy for a bit.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like you could have texted. Super reasonable,” Jason snorted, holding onto the table as he took a few cautious steps toward the door. It felt like the room was spinning, and his legs felt like jello, so he didn’t make it far.

“He’s just worried. This isn’t like Tim at all. We’re worried about him,” Dick said, not moving out of the doorway.

“Look, if you think that I don’t expect B to act like a psycho asshole 100% of the time, then you are under some serious misunderstandings about my opinion of him,” Jason sighed. He stopped at the end of the table, when it became pretty obvious that Dick wasn’t going to move. Jason was nowhere near steady enough to make him.

Dick’s mouth turned down into a faint frown at that. His first expression since entering the room. “I know you’re not B’s biggest fan, but I would really appreciate it if you could ask your contacts if they’ve heard anything that might be related to Tim’s disappearance,” Dick said in what sounded like his best little professional voice.

Jason did roll his eyes at that. “Right, because I am just overflowing with goodwill after this little performance.”

“Jason!” Dick bit off whatever he was going to say a second after shouting his name. His mouth and nose were wrinkled with anger, so at least they were back on steadier footing. The whole good cop routine was starting to give Jason the creeps.

After Dick visibly mastered himself, he spoke again, “It would really go a long way to building some trust between you and Bruce if you could help us with this.”

For some reason, it was this last line that really lit the fire of anger in Jason’s chest. Not the screaming from Bruce or the suspicion, but this carefully worded advice from Dick.

It felt like the drugs in his system burned up in a single moment of incandescent rage. Before he knew it, Jason was in Dick’s face.

“There’s that misunderstanding again,” he sneered. “What the fuck makes you think I want Batman to trust me? What makes you think I trust him not to put a knife in my back the second it’s convenient for him? He could eat shit and die tomorrow and trust me, these eyes would be dry as the desert, asshole.” Jason shoved Dick out of the way hard. He knew the door jamb was digging into Dick’s back, but all he did was stand there and stare Jason down like all he wanted in the world was to lay him with a good punch. “I hope the kid really did ditch all you fucks,” Jason whispered viciously, putting his mouth just a scant inch from Dick’s ear. “It would be the smartest thing he ever did.” He felt Dick shaking where he held him still across his chest, and he wasn’t naive enough to think it was anything other than barely leashed rage.

Jason stepped away from Dick and strode down the hallway away from him. His heart was thumping hard in his chest and his hands were shaking with adrenaline. A rushing noise in his ears muffled the chattering sounds of bats and running water as he exited the short hallway into the main Batcave. He hadn’t been inside the cave since before his death, but he couldn’t be fucked to take a single backward glance, he was so mad. He walked down to the vehicle bay, his long legs eating up the distance in no time, jumped on the first motorcycle he saw and revved the engine hard. The rumble between his legs felt like escape. He let the throttle open up and tore out of the cave with a screech of tires.

He drove mindlessly for a long time. It was late (or early depending on your perspective) so he took the highway loop around the outside of the city and drove recklessly fast. He let the thrill of the speed and the near misses with other cars sweat out the stink and hurt and fear from his body. Only once the trembling in his limbs cooked down to hunger and exhaustion did he pull off the interstate.

It was the early hours of the morning when Jason crashed the cycle into the most glorious fireball against a nearby empty warehouse. It wasn’t the mayor’s car, but it was Dick’s Ducati, which was pretty close. He hoped he liked that bike, that he had plans for it. That last little bit of revenge completed, Jason wandered into the nearest 24 hour diner, ordered almost the entire breakfast menu and then went into the bathroom and crushed no less than six trackers that he found all through his clothes. He ended up just leaving his boots in the bathroom. It was too easy to hide trackers in the soles that couldn’t be found with a simple pat down test.

As he munched through toast and pancakes, he finally let himself turn over his encounter with Bats and Dick.

Tim wasn’t just retiring from Wayne Enterprises, he had also disappeared. It had the bats scrambling. They must have had no leads if they were going to such lengths as to drag him into the cave, a place that they had vehemently kept him out of even when he was bleeding and broken after co-op missions. It was probably going worse than he imagined if they were willing to lower themselves to asking him for help. He thought that Dick was going to have an aneurysm during that little bit of making nice in the interrogation room.

The thing was that Batman and his little brood were actually good detectives. It was pretty unusual for them to be this lost when it came to an investigation. If Tim really was kidnapped against his will, he was smart enough to find some way to leave a clue for his mentor, and Bruce was definitely smart enough to pick up on it.

Jason paused to take a swig of his coffee and stare out the window at the early morning wageworkers walking the pavement with their heads down against the early morning chill.

Unless the bats were approaching things from the wrong end.

Jason had mostly been going for the easiest dig when he said that last thing to Dick, but what if that was closer to the truth than he thought? Bruce and the rest of the bats were probably arrogant enough to not even consider that Tim had left under his own power. But, the police response to the media sure sounded like they weren’t very suspicious. Tim had just turned eighteen last summer, so it was now legal for him to disappear. Even emancipated, disappearing while underage was likely to set off a pretty serious investigation. But, a wealthy eighteen-year-old disappearing? That wasn’t illegal, just concerning.

Was that why the bats couldn’t find him? Because they refused to consider Tim a suspect in his own disappearance?

Jason snorted around a piece of bacon. It all just fit together too well. And, god, what a hit that would be if he was right.

“Oh my god,” Jason said, putting down the huge glass of orange juice he had just started to pick up. The old lady sitting in the booth behind him gave him a derisive look.

If they wanted Jason to investigate Tim’s disappearance, he would. But, not to bring the poor little bird home. No, he was going to prove that Tim bounced out hard and dunk the bat's collective egos into the toilet bowl. And, he would flush too.

~ ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ ~

Jason starts with the money.

Unlike a normal eighteen-year-old on the run, Tim was a fucking billionaire a couple of times over. There was no way he just grabbed a backpack and a ticket on a greyhound bus. No, Jason's bet was that if Tim had decided to disappear, even if it was a spur of the moment thing, he had used his exorbitant wealth to help things along.

Financial forensics were not exactly Jason's strong suit, but he knew enough to hide his own trail of illicit cash and purchases. A few books checked out from his local library helped him the rest of the way.

Jason wasn't an incredible hacker either, but luckily Bruce had helped the Gotham City Police Department gain access to Tim's civilian hard drive. The GCPD were many things, but digitally secure they were not. It was nothing for Jason to sneak into their network using the login he had pinched from a detective over a year ago and start cruising through what they had and use that to open any other doors he needed.

The picture came together pretty quickly. Just a few days of digging and Jason had a pretty good picture of what happened.

Tim had an absolutely obscene number of alias' and shell companies set up. What half of them were for, Jason had no idea. It seemed like he just randomly cycled money through them for no particular reason he could tell.

But, if you knew what you were looking for, you might notice that one of those shell companies had bought a farm in the middle of rural Pennsylvania just a month ago. Then, just two weeks after purchasing said farm, the deed was transferred to one 'John Timothy Drako'.

The alias was so weak that Jason actually squawked out a laugh at the sight of it. It was almost like Tim wanted to be caught or something.

It seemed obvious to Jason that this little farm must be where Tim had disappeared too, but just the paper trail wouldn't be enough for Bruce. No, if he was going to convince him that his little bird had flown the coop on purpose, he would need proof positive.

The farm was only a few hours away, so Jason decided it would be worth it to check it out himself. He wouldn't get close. Jason didn't want to spook Tim, for reasons that he wasn't willing to think about too much. He would just confirm that Tim was on the farm and then fuck out of there without Tim any the wiser.

In order to do so, Jason had found another farm sitting on a ridge almost a mile from the one Tim had bought. It looked like it had been abandoned for decades, the windows broken out and the door hanging by only one hinge. It had a big barn that looked like it was one stiff wind away from falling down. Regardless of its run down condition, the barn was perfect. Jason scaled the creaking ladder up into the loft and from there hauled himself up onto the roof. The rusted corrugated tin was warm from the sun, even in the November chill.

Jason laid flat on the roof and pulled a huge telephoto lens and camera from his duffle. He aimed it across the valley at Tim's farm.

He didn't even have to wait. There he was, just wandering around the property, trailing his fingers along fence posts and looking up at twisted old fruit trees. He looked happy and calm, an expression that Jason had never seen on his face as he stumbled over tree roots on his way back to the old farmhouse. He was in a red and black flannel shirt and ripped up old jeans over soft brown boots. Tim fit right in to the scenery, so long as you didn't look too close.

Because, if you did look close, you would see that he looked like death warmed over. His hair was long and unwashed, his skin was sickly pale, his face was gaunt with his cheeks and eyes sunken into his already bony face. His hands where they protruded from the worn ends of his shirt sleeves shook faintly. The way his clothes hung on him, Jason suspected that there wasn't a single ounce of fat on his body.

Jason took his pictures, but he remained on the roof of the barn for a long time after Tim retreated back into his little farm house.

His mind was scrambling with questions, but the biggest one was definitely 'What the fuck happened?'

Jason hadn't ever seen Tim out of costume personally that he could remember. So, admittedly, he wasn't an expert on what Tim normally looked like. There were pictures in the newspaper, but he knew better than anyone how expert all the bats were at using makeup and padding and other tools of disguise to hide what was really going on with them. When Jason had met up with Tim during patrols or to work on cases, he seemed fine. But, then, all but the skin of his jaw was covered while they worked and his costume could have been padded out to hide weight loss.

Even if Tim had fooled Jason, who admittedly wouldn't have been looking at him very closely, the Bats had to be aware of something, right? The kid looked like he was ready to pass out any second. How was Bruce okay with him living on his own and working a full time job on top of vigilante work if this was the toll it took on him?

Jason was missing something big. Or, was he? An insidious voice whispered in his ear that maybe the Bruce of his childhood never would have allowed something like that. But, he had changed a lot since Jason had come back to Gotham. Mostly for the worse.

Jason had always assumed the coldness and the vitriol and the judgment were reserved only for him, but what was he basing that on? Did he think that Bruce could only treat people he had a bad relationship with that way? How did he even know that Tim and Bruce had a good relationship in the first place?

There were so many questions, and the connotations of all of them were absolutely tragic to consider. Jason had thought that Bruce was a bad father to him for a long time, but the idea that he was also a bad father to all of his other kids sunk into Jason's stomach like a ten ton rock.

Before Jason could even begin to come to terms with what he had just realized, his phone buzzed in his pocket. This was weird because he had only brought his real phone along on his op, the one he gave to friends only.

He had a text message from an unknown number.

Meeting in cave tonight @ 10 PM. Not optional.

"Fuck my life," Jason muttered as he shoved his phone back into his pocket and packed his expensive camera back into its duffle bag. "This is going to suck."

~ ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ ~

Jason shows up at the cave at quarter to ten. He comes in through a back entrance hidden in the woods behind the manor that he'd known about since he was a kid.

Even though he was early, he wasn’t the only one there. Three women and one boy were sitting at a large round table in the middle of the main cavern that he didn’t remember being there before. He recognized the boy as Damian Wayne only because his picture has been in the paper from time to time beside Bruce and Dick. Cassandra and Steph he only recognized by reputation. He'd maybe seen one photo of Cassandra in the press and had never run across Black Bat during patrols, which he'd attributed to their territories being too far apart. Steph he only knew from his own research into the bats operating in Gotham. She was the only one visibly struggling with her emotions, her eyes red and shining, her bottom lip wobbling intermittently as she stared intently at her hands where they rested on the tabletop.

The last person at the table had to be Barbara Gordon, someone he hadn't seen or heard from since before he died. She was still beautiful just like he remembered, but she was also older and more mature, whatever girl like warm she had before long gone. She looked like a serious young woman tired beyond her years as she sat in a modern looking wheelchair pushed up close to the table. Barbara was also the only one who acknowledged him as he sat down in a free space and put a manila folder down in front of him. They shared a brief glance, her face completely unreadable, before she nodded and looked away.

It was a long fifteen minutes of waiting in silence. Steph sniffled while Barbara and Cassandra, sitting on either side of her, reached out to reassure her. Jason and Damian were completely still. Dick came in wearing his full Nightwing gear five minutes before the meeting was set to start. He was the only person fully kitted out. Damian appeared to be in pajamas, the girls were all in civvies, and Jason was in his normal body armor but sans mask or helmet. Dick stared at Jason for a long time, frozen just a few feet from the table. Jason didn't know what his deal was, but he stared back until Dick finally shook it off and took a seat beside Babs.

Batwoman and Batwing showed up shortly after Dick, also in full costume. They both stuttered a little bit when they saw him, but Jason could not give less of a fuck about either of them. They took the remaining two seats on either side of him very stiffly.

Bruce came striding into the main cavern at exactly ten o'clock in full Batman suit and gear. He looked stiff and tired to Jason's trained eye. The way he moved in the armor made it look like it weighed five hundred pounds, but Jason and Dick may have been the only ones who knew him well enough to pick up on it. Bruce covered his own discomfort exceptionally well against people who didn't know what to look for.

Batman stood at the head of the table, at the exact other end from Jason.

"What have you found?" he growled out. It sounded painful, the way his voice ground out from between tense lips.

Nobody spoke for a long moment, but then Steph's wavering voice broke the tense silence.

"I've been all over his apartment and talked to all of his friends. Nobody knows anything," she said, just barely choking out the last sentence before she had to cover her face with her hands as a sob finally broke through.

Cassandra put a comforting hand on her back, and Barbara took hold of the hand not pressed to her face.

"Searched all over Gotham. All Tim's favorite spots. No Tim," Cassandra said in a soft, halting voice.

"I contacted my mother," Damian spoke next. He was as still as a statue, unnaturally still for a kid his age. His bright green eyes stared at nothing, looking directly ahead. "She says that there is no whisper of him among the League."

"Batwing, Batwoman and I have been coordinating to shake down all the big players in Gotham to see if they had anything to do with it," Dick spoke up next, his defeated tone conveying what everyone already knew. "Nobody seems to know anything."

There was a long pause. Not a head turned toward him, though Jason could still feel everyone's attention focus on him. He supposed he made it a little obvious with the folder. He was the only one who brought anything, after all.

Jason used a single finger to flick the folder across the table toward Bruce. Batman stopped it from hitting him in his armored stomach with a gauntlet slap.

"Tim is fine. He left on his own, just like I told you," Jason said, folding his arms across his chest.

The table erupted in noise, multiple people trying to talk at once. Dick and Steph were the loudest, but most people had their mouths open. Jason didn't care. He only had eyes for Bruce, and Bruce only had eyes for the folder trapped under his hand.

While Dick shouted angry questions at him and Steph cussed at Bruce while Cassandra held her back, Jason watched Bruce pick up the folder and flip it open. It was a heavily redacted file, a decision that Jason made just a few seconds before he printed everything out. It wasn't as convincing, with addresses and names all blacked out and the photos of Tim zoomed in so far as to crop out any identifying information. But, the idea of just handing Bruce Tim's location made Jason sick to his stomach.

He watched Bruce's mouth tighten, his fingers tighten on the paper until it bent and warped under his thick fingertips. He watched the muscles in his jaw tighten until Jason sincerely thought he was going to crack a tooth.

"Stop!" Barbara shouted, cutting through all the arguing and shouting that swirled around the table. It pulled Jason out of his focus, snapping him back to the present.

Dick and Damian were both on their feet, and Batwing was leaning back from the table like he would like nothing more than to get up and leave. Batwoman looked like it was any other Tuesday, but Steph was glaring at Bruce like she was about two seconds away from jumping across the table to attack him.

Babs had the hand not clutched in Steph's shirt over her forehead, her eyes closed tightly behind her glasses.

"Jason is right," she said, like she had to force each word out between her teeth. "I found Tim too. He left of his own accord and appears to be perfectly fine."

Silence descended again, but it was short-lived this time.

"Explain," Bruce ground out, tossing the folder onto the table like it disgusted him.

"There's nothing to explain," Barbara said, frustration clear in her tone. "The police were completely right. Tim engineered his own disappearance."

"If you expect me to believe that my own son-" Bruce started, his voice deadly soft in the beginning but steadily building before being brutally cut off by Barbara.

"I saw the cave footage," she shouted, looking furious herself. "So, don't act like what I'm saying is so unbelievable," she hissed.

The kids all froze at that (Dick, Damian, Steph and Cassandra), but Jason leaned forward with a frown. He could feel Batwoman and Batwing tuning in as well.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Jason asked with a wrinkle of his nose.

"Bruce," Batwoman sighed, her voice somehow quiet and hard at the same time.

Bruce stared down at the file sitting on the table in front of him. He didn't move and didn't speak, he just stared while Dick carefully edged toward him.

"Bruce, is there reason to believe that Tim would have left on his own? Something you didn't feel the need to share with us?" Luke Fox asked, sounding as exasperated as Jason felt disgusted.

Did Bruce know that Tim had probably left on his own and decided to act like he was kidnapped just to save face? Or was he really in denial? Jason honestly wasn't sure which one would be worse.

"There was no reason to believe that Tim would have left under his own power," Bruce ground out.

"That is not true!" Stephanie shouted, her face flushed red and shining with tears. "He left a note," Stephanie added with a wobble, another tear escaping to run down her cheek.

"What note?" Dick asked faintly. Now that Jason looked at him, he almost looked like he was going to pass out.

"There was a single sticky note on his computer monitor in his apartment," Barbara explained tiredly. "It said only, 'don't look for me'."

"Jesus Christ," Luke snapped, standing up so fast he nearly knocked over his chair. "And you didn't think that was useful information to share with us?"

"It was obviously fake," Bruce snarled.

"The handwriting was an exact match," Barbara tossed back.

"It is incredibly easy to imitate someone's handwriting," Bruce shot right back.

"That may be the case, but it also may be the case that the note was genuine," Batwoman replied as easily as if she were ordering a sandwich at Subway. "But you hid that clue from us because you wanted to make sure our investigations only went in certain directions."

"I was removing misleading information from your view in order to eliminate distractions," Bruce replied through clenched teeth.

"It begs the question," Batwoman continued quietly, completely ignoring him. "Were you aware of Timothy's role in his own disappearance all along and only bringing us in to keep up appearances?"

"This is ridiculous! This meeting is over," Bruce barked, but was immediately shouted down.

"Let her speak," Barbara snapped, Luke nodding along with her.

"It also begs the question of why Timothy felt the need to disappear in the first place. He's surrounded by adults and other vigilantes. There are plenty of people who know who he is and what his struggles may be. So, why was it preferable to disappear than to turn to one of us for help?" Batwoman continued quietly.

"Are you implying that I abused my son?" Bruce asked in a dangerously quiet voice. His hands were visibly trembling where they pressed against the top of the table.

"I am simply asking questions," Batwoman sighed. "I don't pretend to know the answers."

"I want you all out," Bruce said quietly. He sucked in a breath, and it trembled on the exhalation. Jason wasn't sure if he had ever seen him emote so visibly in the last few years. "If I see a single one of you still here in ten minutes, I'll throw you out myself."

With that parting note, Bruce spun on his heel, his cape billowing out dramatically behind him, and stalked back to the door he had initially appeared from. Not ten seconds after he had disappeared, loud crashing sounds could be heard from the other side of the door.

"Well, this was a huge waste of time," Luke said, shrugging his wide shoulders and curling his lip like he smelled something nasty. "I'm sorry, Steph," he said, turning a sympathetic expression on the still quietly sniffling Stephanie. "I hope he comes home soon."

"Thanks, Luke," she said despondently.

With another pitying look at the rest of them, Batwing turned around and headed toward the vehicle bay.

"I'm also sorry that things turned out this way," Batwoman said as she gracefully slid to her feet. "I'm always available if any of you need anything," she said, making eye contact with everyone but Jason before following Batwing out to the vehicle bay.

The rest of them sat at the table for a while, listening to the sounds of equipment smashing in the other room until it finally subsided. Jason considered making an exit that was much louder and angrier than Kate and Luke's, or maybe just turning around and leaving without saying anything. Something kept him stuck to that chair.

Kate's question swirled around in his head. What did they do to Tim to finally drive him off? Jason hadn't even managed that when he nearly killed the kid in his own base.

"Come on, Steph. Let's head back," Barbara finally said, squeezing her hand one last time before releasing it and rolling away from the table.

"Who's taking the kid?" Jason asked before his brain really registered what he was saying.

Dick, Steph and Cass looked at Jason like he had suddenly started speaking Martian, but Barbara was giving him a level look, so he focused on her.

"Listen, I don't like what you're implying," Dick said once he finally got a handle on his words again. "No matter how upset Bruce is, he would never lay a hand on Damian!"

"I am a highly trained assassin," Damian chipped in, scowling straight ahead into the darkness of the cave and not attempting to look anywhere near anyone. "I hardly need a common thug like you questioning my father."

"Jason's right," Babs said, a challenge in her voice. Dick sputtered and Damian shrunk in on himself, but she didn't back down. "Damian, you can stay at the Clock Tower with us tonight. Let B cool off for a while, okay?" she said.

"Babs," Dick hissed. Damian stood up from his seat and walked over to the group of women without making eye contact with anyone.

"Dick," Barbara snapped back. "There are more ways to hurt a kid than by hitting them," she said flatly.

Dick reeled back like she had slapped him. But, Babs only looked tired. "Come on, guys. Let's go."

The four of them got up to leave, which seemed like as good a time as any for him to head out too. He sure as fuck didn't want to be left alone in the cave with Dick and Bruce after that shit show of a meeting. So, Jason got up and walked to the vehicle bay with them.

There was a plain white van sitting among the Batmobile and tricked out bikes that the two girls and Damian made their way toward. Babs hung back and waved them on when they hesitated to leave her behind.

Jason hesitated, not especially wanting to chat with Barbara. He had never had any particular beef with her, either before or after his death. In fact, she was probably one of the few people who might have been able to identify with him, since the Joker ruined her life so close to when he had taken Jason's. Even so, it was hard to reconcile this self-possessed woman with the vivacious girl he had been dazzled by when he was a teenager.

"That was some good detective work back there," she said when Jason finally stopped a few feet from her.

"Yeah, well," Jason shrugged awkwardly. He glanced back at the manila folder still sitting on the table behind him. "When you look into it without bias, it was pretty straightforward."

"Did you see him?" Babs asked, her eyes suddenly focused and hungry in a way they hadn't been since he got there. It was impossible to mistake what she was asking.

Jason nodded.

"Was he really okay?" she asked. There was a wobble in her voice, the first betrayal of grief he had seen in her.

"Yeah," Jason said, talking around a frog in his own throat. "Like, he looked like a skeleton shambling around the countryside. But, he, uh, also looked happy and relaxed? I don't know. It's hard to say from just looking at him through a scope, but I think he's okay."

"Okay," Barbara said, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, struggling with some emotion that Jason couldn't identify. "Okay, thank you for telling me."

"Sure. No problem," Jason said, awkwardly shuffling his weight from one foot to the next. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"I think it would only be fair," Barbara said, but she looked wary.

"What the fuck happened? To drive the kid away, I mean?" Jason asked, not really expecting an answer, but needing to ask.

Barbara closed her eyes again, but this time he could plainly see the expression of hurt on her face. "I don't think I have the energy to talk about it right now. Rain check?" she asked, the ghost of a smile on her face.

Jason frowned. It felt like a cop out. He never saw Babs, how the fuck was he going to cash in that rain check?

But, he also sort of wanted to get out of the cave so bad that he was probably willing to let just about anything go.

"Yeah, sure. Rain check," he agreed, before turning and walking away toward the little known path he had taken into the cave.

"Don't be a stranger, Boy Wonder," Babs called after him.

Damn if that didn't stick in his chest like an arrow. But, he didn't let his gait miss a beat and waved over his shoulder without stopping.

He walked, and he walked until he got to the tiny biometric scanner that let him through the blast door and into the wild, unmaintained cave beyond Bruce’s defenses. The path was rockier as he made his way farther from the Wayne Estate and closer to the surface. Once he was finally outside, the moon was full and bright overhead.

He just wanted to get back to his bed and his life and forget about bats and missing birds. He wanted to sleep and read and eat until the rock in his stomach eventually dissolved. Most of all, he wished he could just forget about his fucked up excuse for a family forever.

#jason todd #red hood #barbara gordon #oracle #dick grayson #nightwing #tranquilizers #wrongful imprisonment #canon level child abuse #gaslighting #fanfiction #kitty writes

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